Re: Please critique VSL article

From: robert bristow-johnson (rbj_at_audioimagination.com)
Date: 01/08/05 

Date: Sat, 8 Jan 2005 22:05:42 +0000 (UTC)

in article 1104417229.556785.191520@c13g2000cwb.googlegroups.com, zawy at
zawy@yahoo.com wrote on 12/30/2004 12:48:

> robert bristow-johnson wrote:
>> they're saying that only dimensionless quantities (whether they be constant
>> or not) *can* be measured ultimately in physical experiments or in our
>> perception of reality.
>
> See http://arxiv.org/PS_cache/hep-ph/pdf/0312/0312111.pdf to learn how
> "dimensioned" constants can have just as much "meaning" as
> dimensionless constants.

as far as i can tell, that paper does nothing to refute Duff's point (which
still appears to me to be virtually unrefutable) and they simply show that
using different kinds of clocks and meter stick, you can choose your unit
system to show a variance in c or h_bar or whatever fundamental constant is
your fancy. and they show that the normalized variation of those depend on
different powers of alpha. big deal! still what is ostensibly varying is
alpha.

in Duff's paper, he shows pretty clearly that the variation of entropy of a
non-rotating black hole does NOT discriminate between a varying c theory and
a varying e theory. in both cases, it really is "just" a varying alpha. so
whether it's Oklo or QSO observation or black hole entropy, all these
experiments only imply that alpha is varying. if you're careful with the
math, there is no indication that it is c vs. h_bar vs. e vs. G. it's just
alpha.

>> hunh? it has dimension but there are no units (if you were to express the
>> value of c numerically)? how can that be?
>
> Space has 3 dimensions but 1 unit. Einstein showed that space-time is 4
> dimensions because time and distance are the same thing. The
> conversion factor between them is c. The only difference is that time
> is in the 4th dimension, perpindicular to the 3 length dimensions.

we have to be careful about the semantics. the 3 dimensions of x, y, and z
are not what i mean by dimension of physical quantity (such as time, length,
mass, and charge). those 3 dimensions are all length. 

-- 
r b-j                  rbj@audioimagination.com
"Imagination is more important than knowledge."

Relevant Pages

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