If light speed (not in a vacuum) was about human walking speed ...

[rootone]

Main Question or Discussion Point

If light speed (not in a vacuum) was about human walking speed ...
Did any sci fi writer try that?

 

[Bystander]

reminded me of Bob Shaw's "slow glass."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_of_Other_Days

 

[Rive]

I met this idea once in a kind of 'relativity for young adults' book.

 

[Ryan_m_b]

Can’t think of any. Changing the speed of light would change so many other things that it is linked to. Greg Egan is a very good SF writer who goes heavily into the science of his books (and I mean heavy), he wrote a trilogy set in a universe where light has mass and explored the consequences of that:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9756310-the-clockwork-rocket

 

[Nik_2213]

Redshift Rendezvous by John E. Stith.

There's a singularity at the centre of the spherical ship, so time, light and gravity run differently on each onion-layered deck. On one inner deck, space-time curves such you can see around the circumference. If you stand and wait a little while, you can see your own back...

The author's extensive notes do apologise for taking liberties with Relativity. These necessitate a 'life-belt' to maintain the wearer's physiology despite the deranged physics.

IMHO, Mild Suspension of Disbelief aside, it is a well-wrought tale, full of twists, turns, villains and derring-do.

 

[m4r35n357]

If light speed (not in a vacuum) was about human walking speed ...
Did any sci fi writer try that?

You might find this (sadly) abandoned game demo interesting . . .

 

[rootone]

Thanks for the interesting replies.

 

[bob012345]

Can’t think of any. Changing the speed of light would change so many other things that it is linked to. Greg Egan is a very good SF writer who goes heavily into the science of his books (and I mean heavy), he wrote a trilogy set in a universe where light has mass and explored the consequences of that:

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/9756310-the-clockwork-rocket

If light was very slow I think it would effectively have mass and thus greatly enhanced momentum. Then rockets could work just by shining lasers or microwaves out the back for propulsion. At least for SF.

 

[Fewmet]

If light speed (not in a vacuum) was about human walking speed ...
Did any sci fi writer try that?

In the first chapter of "Mr Tompkins in Wonderland" George Gamow treats c as a a bit above bicycle speed.

 

[FactChecker]

In the first chapter of "Mr Tompkins in Wonderland" George Gamow treats c as a a bit above bicycle speed.

This is one of my favorite books from long ago. I highly recommend it if only for the entertainment of seeing how he presents a variety of concepts in an exagerated form.

 

[CWatters]

Redshift Rendezvous by John E. Stith.

There's a singularity at the centre of the spherical ship, so time, light and gravity run differently on each onion-layered deck.

Didnt Dr Who have something similar in a recent episode?

Aside: My father did some of the lighting for Dr Who back in the 1960s and 70s.

 

[Fewmet]

Didnt Dr Who have something similar in a recent episode?

Season 10, Episode 11.

 

[ZapperZ]

If light speed (not in a vacuum) was about human walking speed ...
Did any sci fi writer try that?

I don't quite understand what is so exotic about this. After all, Lene Hau slowed down light to 17 mph in 1999, and our world didn't turn "sci-fi" (she and her group went all the way and slowed it down to a complete halt a few years later).

Zz.

 

[m4r35n357]

I don't quite understand what is so exotic about this. After all, Lene Hau slowed down light to 17 mph in 1999, and our world didn't turn "sci-fi" (she and her group went all the way and slowed it down to a complete halt a few years later).

Zz.

As I interpret the OP, the question is about slowing the characteristic speed of spacetime, not the actual speed of light pulses. I do not believe the former has yet been achieved ;)

 

[ZapperZ]

As I interpret the OP, the question is about slowing the characteristic speed of spacetime, not the actual speed of light pulses. I do not believe the former has yet been achieved ;)

The OP said (emphasis mine):

If light speed (not in a vacuum) was about human walking speed ...

Isn't this simply the speed of light in a medium? It has nothing to do with "characteristic speed of spacetime" if it is simply the speed of light being slowed down ".. not in a vacuum..".

Zz.

 

[m4r35n357]

The OP said (emphasis mine):

Agreed, but as you say such a question is not really worth asking. Hence I attempted to read the OPs mind ;)