What if the speed of light wasn't always what it is now? - Page 2

My point is that the sequences 0.33... and 3.14... can both be specified using a finite amount of information. Why would nature allow specifications of rational sequences but not of irrational ones?

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11-23-2017 , 02:58 PM

#27

TimM

Carpal \'Tunnel

Join Date: Jan 2004 Posts: 9,766

Why does the universe care that we use base 10? We can express 1/3 as 0.1 in base 3. There is a definite difference between rational and irrational numbers.

c is just a unit conversion anyway. If you're a theoretical physicist, c is 1.

c changing breaks a lot of really basic things, like energy conservation and relativity. c is just the ratio between our time units and our space units. Changing c would have some pretty bizarre consequences that are hard to wrap my head around right now.

Last edited by TimM; 11-23-2017 at 03:25 PM.

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12-08-2017 , 08:17 PM

#28

archimedes11

adept

Join Date: Jan 2011 Posts: 1,135

Quote:

Originally Posted by BrianTheMick2

Also, if the speed of light were different in the past than it is now, it would be different than it is now.

Which is a counterfactual supposition that we cannot test, so I don't follow how you can make such a claim. But also, I don't think it would be different than it is now, because once its speed reaches the speed limit of causality, c, it would remain at that speed forever (as far as we know). So it wouldn't matter what speed it started at, nor the history of all the speeds it possessed in the past, because the outcome would be the same once it reached the speed limit, which is where we come into the story and observe it.

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12-09-2017 , 01:12 AM

#29

BrianTheMick2

Long way to go and a short time to get there.

Join Date: May 2012 Posts: 19,410

Quote:

Originally Posted by archimedes11

It is turtles all the way down.

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12-09-2017 , 01:28 AM

#30

plaaynde

Poker Historian

Join Date: Jan 2010 Posts: 20,058

I think if two protons weren't the double amount of one proton math wouldn't describe the universe as well as now. The same if say the speed of light varied randomly, even a little. If it varied more orderly: better for math.

Some statistical models would of course be possible anyhow.

Last edited by plaaynde; 12-09-2017 at 01:39 AM.

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