- #1
fbs7
- 345
- 37
The other day I was playing my favorite time waster (World of Warcraft), and someone started to talk about flat earthers. I thought of stirring world chat a little bit, so I posted that while the flat earthers were a lot of odd folks, one could argue that for a photon the Earth indeed looks flatter than a pancake - that got me a lot of insults and meltdowns, so it was a lot of fun with teenagers, but it got me thinking.
I really have no idea how the Earth or even the Universe looks like for a photon, but I suppose that photons still obey cause and effect, so that if we see a photon going on a line from "A" to "B" to all the way to the edge of the observable universe will, the photon will see everything in that line as a single point, yet somehow, by some bizarre mechanism, the effects of points "A", "B" and "edge of the universe" will affect the photon in that order - maybe because they are in the same 2D location but at different times?
I'm probably butchering physics with my poor language, but this idea that "A", "B" and "edge" show up in the same point kinda makes some little sense to my uneducated brain, as exactly the same thing happens in my 2D computer display. If I look at a set of coordinates in the display, that at 10:00 show the letter "A", then at 10:01 show "B", and show 10:02 show "C", then the coordinates of the letters A, B, C will all be the same, but I don't think they are on top of one another as they show at different times.
So, does it make any sense to compare that for a photon the whole universe looks like a 2D computer screen, where all the particles in the half of the universe that match the direction of travel (ie, the universe in the "front" of the photon) are arranged(**) in a fashion akin to the frames of a movie, while the other half of the universe (ie, in the "back" of the photon) is completely dark to the photon and will never be seen, given that nothing can catch up with the speed of light?
(**) I'm using the word "arranged" just for my complete ignorance of the proper term; a photon can't see anything, of course, and if it could see I'm not sure it could measure that in times as "10:00", "10:01" and so on; I mean with "arranged" the order that things affect the photon, ie, cause/effect - with my apologies up front for poor language.
I really have no idea how the Earth or even the Universe looks like for a photon, but I suppose that photons still obey cause and effect, so that if we see a photon going on a line from "A" to "B" to all the way to the edge of the observable universe will, the photon will see everything in that line as a single point, yet somehow, by some bizarre mechanism, the effects of points "A", "B" and "edge of the universe" will affect the photon in that order - maybe because they are in the same 2D location but at different times?
I'm probably butchering physics with my poor language, but this idea that "A", "B" and "edge" show up in the same point kinda makes some little sense to my uneducated brain, as exactly the same thing happens in my 2D computer display. If I look at a set of coordinates in the display, that at 10:00 show the letter "A", then at 10:01 show "B", and show 10:02 show "C", then the coordinates of the letters A, B, C will all be the same, but I don't think they are on top of one another as they show at different times.
So, does it make any sense to compare that for a photon the whole universe looks like a 2D computer screen, where all the particles in the half of the universe that match the direction of travel (ie, the universe in the "front" of the photon) are arranged(**) in a fashion akin to the frames of a movie, while the other half of the universe (ie, in the "back" of the photon) is completely dark to the photon and will never be seen, given that nothing can catch up with the speed of light?
(**) I'm using the word "arranged" just for my complete ignorance of the proper term; a photon can't see anything, of course, and if it could see I'm not sure it could measure that in times as "10:00", "10:01" and so on; I mean with "arranged" the order that things affect the photon, ie, cause/effect - with my apologies up front for poor language.