[Physics] About "logical errors"

[Thomas Goodey]

On 3 Nov 2016 at 12:00, Arend Lammertink wrote:

> Let me just quote Nikola Tesla... This logically
> thinking realist already wiped the floor with the theory
> of relativity in 1932 and thus proved for the umpteenth
> time to be far ahead of his time: 

No, he didn't. He proved his total ignorance of the 
fundamental elements of the subject.

> "It might be inferred that I am alluding to the curvature of
> space supposed to exist according to the teachings of
> relativity, but nothing could be further from my mind. I
> hold that space cannot be curved, for the simple reason that
> it can have no properties.

He had made up his mind already, a priori without 
considering any facts.

> It might as well be said that God
> has properties. He has not, but only attributes and these
> are of our own making.

This is religious talk, and sounds like some type of 
Catholic hairsplitting. What is the difference between 
"properties" and "attributes"? Scientifically, we just talk 
about what structural regularities can be identified in 
nature.

> To say that in the presence of large bodies space becomes
> curved, is equivalent to stating that something can act
> upon nothing. I, for one, refuse to subscribe to such a
> view." 

But actually it is the fact. Eddington proved that with the 
eclipse observation. Of course it depends upon what you 
mean by "nothing", which depends upon what you mean by 
"thing".

> Isn't it just beautiful how Tesla makes perfectly clear that
> the Emperor of modern physics has no clothes with simple
> logic?

No, it was very stupid, because he opened his mouth in 
total ignorance.

> Think about it. Space is literally no thing, nothing. It is
> the emptiness, the void, wherein physical stuff exists, but
> space in and of itself is not part of anything physical.

What do you mean by "physical" here - it's not clearly 
defined?

> And because space is
> not physical at all, it can have no physical properties.

But it has metric properties. That is the whole point of 
space. (Let's leave time out of it for simplicity; we won't 
speak of space-time although really we should.) The entire 
idea of space is that it serves as a foundation for 
measurement of distances between points (events). Whatever 
space "is" is not to the point. Read your Korzybski! 

Tesla seems to have thought that, a priori, the metric 
properties of space should be Euclidean. Actually this is 
an odd choice, because the group structure of a Euclidean 
space is quite complex. A Euclidean space is also infinite, 
which might be thought to be something of a stumbling-block 
to understanding. Still, somehow, people appear to think it 
is easy to visualize (which of course is irrelevant). 

But actually - as shown eighty years before by Riemann et 
al. - there are many alternatives. Clearly Tesla knew no 
more of that mathematics than my cat knows of 
electrodynamics. Which of those alternatives is actually 
realized in any spatial region is not a matter of 
bullshitting but a matter of observation or even experiment 
(as Gauss realized very well).

For example, one way in which such differences are 
manifested is in the proportion of the volume of a sphere 
to its area times its radius. In Euclidean space this is 
always 4/3 pi r^3 to 4 pi r^3, i.e. 1/3. But in spaces of 
other types this ratio, while being 1/3 for very small 
spheres, changes as the sphere becomes bigger, to be either 
greater or less than 1/3. It is not something to be 
pontificated about without supporting evidence - you have 
to look and see.

> Saying that space becomes curved by large bodies is the same
> as saying that a street map becomes curved because the
> cities and villages that are printed on it are so heavy.

But, in the case of space, this is the actual fact, as 
determined by observation. Therefore all Tesla's polemics 
may safely be ignored.

Thomas Goodey
****************** 

But remember, please, the rules by 
which we live. 
We are not built to comprehend a 
lie. 
We can neither love, nor pity, nor 
forgive. 
If you make a slip in handling us you 
die.  

Rudyard Kipling, 'Secret of the 
Machines'