Evolution

[lesterb]

I'm not a scientist but I believe that it's a well known concept that the further you go into space the slower time goes. I remember reading a book where two twins were separated and one went on a space flight while the other stayed behind. Fifty some years went by until the flight returned but it was only gone for four or five years. So the one twin was 75 and the other was about 30.

As I understand it, this is based on Einsteins theory of relativity. I've seen it demonstrated in the science center in Toronto. A friend of mine has a book based on this theory. The mathematics is beyond me but it shows how that earth's 6,000 years is the equivalent of millions of years out there, using the same principal.

[Josh]

If the speed of light were different, it would affect a lot of other things. General relativity and special relativity rely on a constant speed of light, and both those theories have been experimental proven. We have no sensible reason to doubt them.

[silentreader]

If the speed of light were different, it would affect a lot of other things. General relativity and special relativity rely on a constant speed of light, and both those theories have been experimental proven. We have no sensible reason to doubt them.

But how light acts in quantum theory is an whole other thing.

[ken_sylvania]

If the speed of light were different, it would affect a lot of other things. General relativity and special relativity rely on a constant speed of light, and both those theories have been experimental proven. We have no sensible reason to doubt them.

But all those experiments have been done within the solar system. I understand that the basic theory of gravity that had been scientifically proven many years ago is now in question, having been superseded by various other theories. It will not surprise me in the least if some of the "foundational theories" of today's science end up being dropped by the wayside within the next 50 years, replaced by more advanced theories based on new "knowledge."

[ken_sylvania]

I'm not a scientist but I believe that it's a well known concept that the further you go into space the slower time goes. I remember reading a book where two twins were separated and one went on a space flight while the other stayed behind. Fifty some years went by until the flight returned but it was only gone for four or five years. So the one twin was 75 and the other was about 30.

As I understand it, this is based on Einsteins theory of relativity. I've seen it demonstrated in the science center in Toronto. A friend of mine has a book based on this theory. The mathematics is beyond me but it shows how that earth's 6,000 years is the equivalent of millions of years out there, using the same principal.

A day with the Lord is as 1,000 years, and 1,000 years as a day, right?

[Wayne in Maine]

I'm not a scientist but I believe that it's a well known concept that the further you go into space the slower time goes. I remember reading a book where two twins were separated and one went on a space flight while the other stayed behind. Fifty some years went by until the flight returned but it was only gone for four or five years. So the one twin was 75 and the other was about 30.

As I understand it, this is based on Einsteins theory of relativity. I've seen it demonstrated in the science center in Toronto. A friend of mine has a book based on this theory. The mathematics is beyond me but it shows how that earth's 6,000 years is the equivalent of millions of years out there, using the same principal.

This is not quite true. For one thing, there is no such thing as "further in space" - the earth is not at its center and any distance is relative.

You are probably thinking of the time dilation effect. Time is relative to your velocity, it passes more slowly for you as you travel faster relative to something else. If you could travel near the speed of light you could travel for a year of your life but when you return to earth a thousand years would have passed there. It is one of the consequences of the speed of light being fixed throughout the universe. This effect has actually been measured.

I would like to think that it explains the discrepancy between the apparent age of the universe and the age implied in the book of Genesis, but I don't see how. I think we just have to accept that the universe is old in the same way we accept that the world is not a flat disk covered by a dome with moving lights on it and gates that allow it to rain.

[RZehr]

Wayne how much time do you think has past from the day God rested to today?

[Wayne in Maine]

Wayne how much time do you think has past from the day God rested to today?

I don't know how to answer that except to say I don't know and I have no way of knowing. There is nothing measurable to mark that point in time and the Torah is ambiguous and even allegorical about cosmology and the time scale of events.

But the best measurement of the age of the universe (the time since God said "let there be light" is 13.772 billion years +/- 59 million years.

[Josh]

If the speed of light were different, it would affect a lot of other things. General relativity and special relativity rely on a constant speed of light, and both those theories have been experimental proven. We have no sensible reason to doubt them.

But how light acts in quantum theory is an whole other thing.

The speed of light is rather central to quantum mechanics. Whilst there is fluctuation, the average over time will still come out to the same physical constant.

[Wayne in Maine]

If the speed of light were different, it would affect a lot of other things. General relativity and special relativity rely on a constant speed of light, and both those theories have been experimental proven. We have no sensible reason to doubt them.

But how light acts in quantum theory is an whole other thing.

The speed of light is rather central to quantum mechanics. Whilst there is fluctuation, the average over time will still come out to the same physical constant.

The speed of light in a vacuum is one of those fundamental constants of the universe, perhaps similar to mathematical constants like the ratio of the diameter of a circle to its circumference (π) or Euler's number (the base of the natural logarithms).