Bruce,
Did not Einstein put "action at a distance" wrt gravity to rest with his
general theory? Did he not theorize that gravity is a force that curves
space-time nearby rather than acting on other masses at a distance?
Just askin'
Grant
On 5/18/12 4:13 PM, Bruce Sherwood wrote:
Newton famously said about action at a distance, "I frame no
hypotheses". I take this to mean something like the following:
"I completely agree with you that I haven't explained gravity. Rather
I've shown that observations are consistent with the radical notion
that all matter attracts all other matter, here and in the heavens,
made quantitative by a one-over-r-squared force 'law'. On this basis I
have shown that the orbits of the planets and the behavior of the
tides and the fall of an apple, previously seen as completely
different phenomena, are 'explainable' within one single framework.
I propose that we provisionally abandon the search for an
'explanation' of gravity, which looks fruitless for now, and instead
concentrate on working out the consequences of the new framework.
Let's leave it as a task for future scientists to try to understand at
a deeper level than 'action-at-a-distance' what the real character of
gravity is. There has been altogether too much speculation, such as
maybe angels push the planets around. Let's get on with studying what
we can."
I think Newton doesn't get nearly enough credit for this radical
standpoint, which made it possible to go forward. And of course we
know that eventually Einstein found a deep 'explanation' for gravity
in terms of the effects that matter has on space itself. There are
hints in the current string theory community of even deeper insights
into the nature of gravity.
Bruce
On Fri, May 18, 2012 at 1:38 PM, Russ Abbott<[email protected]> wrote:
John, I like your gravity question. If this were Google+, I'd click its +1
button. My wife, who studies these things, says that one of the
fiercest contemporary criticisms of Newton's theories was that they depended
on a mysterious (magical?) action at a distance.
-- Russ Abbott
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Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
