Einstein at the beach

found a bottle with a message

What if Einstein was mistaken on a crucial point in the reasoning that led him to special relativity?

If so, the conception of time conveyed by physics for more than a century would not correspond to what actually occurs. Here are, in two sentences, the key steps that can lead to this conclusion:

1 – One must not allow time to be “traced back,” even along a line of simultaneity, because it is impossible for something that has existed at a given position relative to an observer to later not yet have existed at that same position relative to that same observer.
2 – Yet in special relativity, when a body accelerates, the rotation of its line of simultaneity leads, in certain configurations, to a backward tracing of time along that line of simultaneity—something that is in fact impossible once the real existence of moving bodies is taken into account.

For the speed of light to be invariant, the principle of the relativity of simultaneity must correspond to what actually occurs. This also means that one must give physical meaning to the lines of simultaneity by making them correspond to the existence of moving bodies; and it is from this that one sees that contradictions arise. Scientists fail to notice this because they adopt a purely operational approach, without giving full physical meaning to the lines of simultaneity. Moreover, even from a mathematical standpoint, this should be demonstrable. The book also opens a path toward an experimental test. If there is absolute simultaneity, the speed of light can no longer be invariant in every situation—implying a coming revolution in physics. A new philosophical vision of the world, highly stimulating for research, then becomes possible.

Philippe de Bellescize