John Clark wrote:
>
> Mike Lorrey <mlorrey@datamann.com>
>
> > There is an absolute frame of reference in at least one dimension. For
> > example, we all know the Big Bang occured at some point in the past.
>
> I have a time machine and a space ship, I put you in a box with some instruments
> and ask you what time it is. You decide to use the biggest relic of all from the big
> bang, the black body radiation. You measure if and find it is not in the microwave
> region as normal on Earth but it's in the form of X rays.
>
> Question: Did I use my time machine to take you back to a time just a few thousand years
> after the big bang, or did I use my space ship to move you at 99.9% of the speed of light
> and have the microwaves blue shifted to X rays?
First you are assuming that it is possible to travel backward in time.
Secondly, you are assuming that I have no other means of measurement. I
could, for example, look at the distance and rate of speed of well known
astronomical objects, or the spectra of well known old stars like
Cepheids (sp?), etc.
If you don't provide me with sufficient instrumentation to perform such
observations, then I can give you no meaningful answer to the question
within the bounds of science.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Sat May 11 2002 - 17:44:13 MDT