Re: Treatment of some posters

dseppala_at_austin.rr.com
Date: 02/09/05 

Date: Wed, 09 Feb 2005 01:32:07 GMT

On Tue, 8 Feb 2005 16:03:56 -0700, "N:dlzc D:aol T:com \(dlzc\)" <N:
dlzc1 D:cox T:net@nospam.com> wrote:

>Someone raised the point that there are some posters that appear to be
>treated shabbily. They appear to come up with "constructs" to test for
>paradoxes in (usually) SR. It is was asked, "Why do you treat ____ this
>way? He is only doing what Einstein himself did."
>
>In one case, treatment like this has kept one poster coming back here for
>more. For as much as 8 years. So these folks come here for the abuse,
>apparently. And their price of admission appears to be some new
>"construct".
>
>I suggest that you do the thing that comes natural to you. If poster A is
>another Einstein in your eyes, then do as you will. But for many, poster A
>is simply here for a new dose of medicine... It won't fix him/her, but
>everyone feels better, and poster A keeps coming back for more.
>
>I offer this as "why" some posters are treated with less than great
>respect.
>
>David A. Smith
>
Some posters come back repeatedly over a long span of time because:
1. When they ask what the common link is between the speed of light
and the way matter behaves the response is "unknown", so they wonder
why.
2. When they post a problem about a rod accelerating from one
inertial frame to another inertial frame, they are told atoms and
sub-atomic particles follow the length contraction virtually
instantaneously whereas molecules adjust at the speed of sound. This
is stated without any explanation so they wonder why.
3. When posters ask about clocks moving from one reference frame into
another, they are told clocks change rates instanteously when placed
in the new frame. This is stated without explanation, so they wonder
why.
4. When clocks are moved from one reference frame into another, all
clocks instantaneously behave the same - atomic clocks, electric
clocks, mechanical clocks. This is stated without explanation, so
they wonder why.
5. When calculations of elapsed time are performed for objects going
from one inertial frame into another, one is told that you must always
view things as if the entire process happened in the final reference
frame, and not to consider the view in the initial frame. This is
stated with explanation, so they wonder why.
6. When a force is applied to a long rod and to a segmented rod of
equal length and mass, the long rod moves in the opposite direction of
the segmented rod at times. This is stated without explanation, so
they wonder why.
7. A rod can be observed to shatter due to stretching when its length
remains constant. This happens without a stated explanation, so they
wonder why.
8. A fragile rod can break due to twisting when it has low relative
velocity, but can undergo extreme twisting when it has high velocity.
This happens without a stated explanation so they wonder why.
9. A rod can increase in length, but not be stretched. This happens
without explanation, so they wonder why.
10. They are told that they don't understand that SR is about
differences in measurements only, and not physical properties even
when everyone agrees that length contraction cannot occur
instantaneously, so they wonder why.
11. It is sacrilegious to state that the simplest explanation of the
MMX is that the speed of light varies with the velocity of the light
source, so they wonder why.
12. Einstein hypothesizes that the speed of light is independent of
the velocity of the light source, yet we all know that the direction
of light propagation is dependent on the velocity of the light source.
No explanation is given for the underlying reason, so they wonder
why.
12. Pre-emininent physicists like Stephen Hawking state that
Michelson-Morley discovered that the speed of light is constant, when
what they measured was phase difference of two interfering light
beams. Statements like this are never corrected, so they wonder why.
13. Einstein states in his paper on General Relativity that one
cannot differentiate between being in a gravitational field or being
simply accelerated. Everyone knows a simple experiment can
differentiate between the two, yet no one ever corrects this concept,
so they wonder why.
14. All of the experimentally demonstrated consequences of relativity
are also consequences of matter and light both having wave properties,
yet this is verboten to think about, so they wonder why.
15. No one has a clear explanation of how an electrical pulse travels
down a pair of wires where one wire has a relative velocity wrt the
other wire, yet we can easily build such a physical device, so they
wonder why.
16. There is not a single source that lists all the axioms and
hypotheses used by physicists, so they wonder why.
17. Physicists, including Einstein, use the well-known logic error of
affirming the consequent as "convincing proof of the correctness of
the theory", so they wonder why.

Some posters like myself make a whole lot of mistakes, and appreciate
it when people with greater education give a logical explanation. But
until some fundamental questions are answered, people like myself will
still wonder why and continue to post questions and problems to help
them clarify the concepts.
   I never understood why so many posters in this group spend time
conjecturing about the motivation of others, but I have also observed
that these same people have never posted anything in the wisdom
newsgroup.
David Seppala

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