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[–]Vulptex 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (11 children)

I keep telling everyone, the speed of light is an arbitrary speed cap. But no one is willing to admit that the universe is a simulation, even though it's completely obvious.

[–]ActuallyNot 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (10 children)

No speed cap would also be arbitrary.

[–]Vulptex 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (9 children)

But it could also be natural. There may well be a reason for the speed of light, and I know light actually has a speed of infinity but still can't reach us for a certain amount of time due to dilation. But clearly dilation increases at a much lower rate than speed (or everything would be moving at the same speed all the time), so what's causing it all to max out at the speed of light? A performance constraint perhaps?

[–]ActuallyNot 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (8 children)

All possible universes fall into two sets: those that have a maximum speed, and those that don't.

Don't be overly surprised if the this one is one or the other.

[–]Alienhunter 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

It's technically both. The speed of light can be considered as the speed at which "shit happens" the speed of time if you will. Since we define time by the rate at which "shit happens" it always appears to pass by at the same rate for us. The same way that down is always defined as the direction you fall even if that can be different for other people relative to you.

You can just keep on pushing the accelerator and going faster forever of course. There's no limit to how fast you can travel. But light will always appear to travel at the rate that "shit happens" to you, so you'll never be able to outrun it.

It's somewhat meaningless for us to understand a universe with an unbounded speed of light since the speed of light is an essential component to how we perceive things. Don't even think of light as important either, light is just the fastest shit. What it really does is effect the rate at which subatomic particles move and energy transfers.

A universe without a maximum speed would likely be a universe without even a concept of time. That's something we can't really understand.

[–]ActuallyNot 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

It's technically both.

Either Newton's or Maxwell's equations are correct. It turns out that it's Maxwell's.

If you assume:

  • The spacetime is homogeneous and isotropic.
  • The laws of physics are the same in all inertial frames of reference (The Galilean relativity principle.)
  • There is a maximum speed.

You get special relativity.

If you assume:

  • The spacetime is homogeneous and isotropic.
  • The laws of physics are the same in all inertial frames of reference (The Galilean relativity principle.)
  • There isn't a maximum speed.

You get Newtonian mechanics.

You can't get both. The maximum speed axioms are incompatible.

[–]Vulptex 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (5 children)

But why is there a maxiumum, unless it's set by a program?

[–]ActuallyNot 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (4 children)

No limit would also be something arbitrarily set. Why would that be the case unless it's set by a program?

[–]Vulptex 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Because that follows from the other laws of the universe. This is an exception.

Of course, then there's the question of why those other laws are the way they are. You can't honestly avoid the conclusion that it's all a matrix.

[–]ActuallyNot 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

Because that follows from the other laws of the universe. This is an exception.

It's not inconsistent, Vulptex.

If there is a speed limit, you get length contraction and time dilation. If there isn't you don't. As it happens, you do, but neither follows from the other laws. You need to discover experimentally which one is the case.

Of course, then there's the question of why those other laws are the way they are. You can't honestly avoid the conclusion that it's all a matrix.

How does your belief that it's a construction interact with your religious and eschatological beliefs?

Is god and the afterlife also part of the simulation? Or is god who wrote the program, or the hardware running it?

[–]Vulptex 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (1 child)

Either God or the devil originally created it, but it's quite clear that the devil runs it now.

[–]ActuallyNot 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

They created both the software and the hardware?

Or within the simulation, were an entity programmed like the other entities?