Okay, let's just see if I can refocus this thread by formulating a non-controversial distinction between SR and GR, regarding the concept of curvature and its theoretical consequences.
SR: no curvature means no geometric models of matter. All of the matter must be introduced as "material...
No, that would not be my question, because it uses invalid assumptions.
GR is not covered by the simplistic visual metaphor of "light-cones", although still reduces to it in the trivial case of a spacetime with no curvature, so that it becomes materially indistinguishable from SR.
To fully...
I guess it is safe to say that SR is, mathematically speaking, a framework that correlates discrete events in spacetime by way of a universal constant (the speed of light) so that the "proper distances" that separate them may be determined. I think this means that every conceivable "instant...
As I see it, the question of "what seems to work" in terms of "making substantial progress" towards unification in theoretical physics depends on some interlocking factors.
Apart from the purely technical factors of showing mathematical and experimental proof, there are also the more mundane...
Another thing that interests me is the degree to which certain theorists insist that there is a limited range of application for GR that does not include, for example, the range of application of QM. The fact that the "machinery" of GR allows for arbitrary coordinate systems, within which...
I sometimes wonder what sense there is in speaking of "solving" the Einstein field equations without any previous notion (even if just implied) of the kind of "constructing" that geometers are so fond of. It seems, for example, that what Schwarzschild accomplished was more akin to a Euclidean...
"Special Relativity is absurdly simple. Especially when presented as Minkowski geometry."
Is the other side of that statement one that goes something like:
"General Relativity is absurdly complex. Especially when presented with Riemann curvature tensors."
?
I'm just a layman with not very much in the way of formal education (relative to many of the members of this forum, at least). I come from an intensely inquisitive perspective, and my main pathway into theoretical science has been via philosophy, and particularly the ideas of Kant as developed...