#aether theory

Time and Relativity:

According to Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity, Time passes differently for observers moving at different speeds. Very generally speaking, a moving observer will experience the passage of time more slowly than a stationary observer. An example has been given of a traveler moving at nearly the speed of light being gone only a short time for him coming back to earth to find that everyone they knew has died of old age.

The Russian Astrophysicist Nikolai Aleksandrovich Kozyrev asked how the passage of time would affect a spinning object. Would time pass differently for the mass on the outer edge than the mass at the center? The mass on the outer edge would be moving faster than the mass at the center. Would time pass differently or uniformly for the entire object?.

Movement of the Earth:

Looking down from what we call the North Pole, the Earth rotates counter-clockwise. Also from this point of view, the Earth orbits the sun in a counter-clockwise direction.

People on the surface of the Earth are moving at a fairly high speed. According to a page on Scientific American,

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-fast-is-the-earth-mov/

"...Thus, the surface of the earth at the equator moves at a speed of 460 meters per second--or roughly 1,000 miles per hour..."

Further details are laid out on a page on Enchanted Learning,

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/astronomy/planets/earth/Speeds.shtml

The Complex Motion of the Earth

  •How fast is the Earth spinning? 0.5 km/sec   •How fast is the Earth revolving around the Sun? 30 km/sec   •How fast is the Solar System moving around the Milky Way Galaxy? 250 km/sec   •How fast is our Milky Way Galaxy moving in the Local Group of galaxies? 300 km/sec

Relative Speed:

If I'm standing on a moving train, I'm moving the same speed as the train is. If I start to run towards the back of the train, in the opposite direction that it is moving, I'm now moving slower than the train is relative to a stationary observer.

To look at it another way, some rides at amusement parks, like the "Octopus", have "cars" at the end of arms that spin while the arms move around a central point. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octopus_(ride)   At some points in the movement, to a stationary observer watching the ride the people seem to almost pause because the 2 rotations seem to cancel each other out for a second, and then the ride flings them off again.

Looking down from the North Pole, as the Earth orbits the sun, and itself rotates counter clockwise, on the night side, opposite of the Sun, the surface of the Earth is moving slightly faster than the day time surface aimed towards the sun. The people on the day side are like me running towards the back of a moving train. Since they're moving slower, a tiny tiny amount slower, they should experience a difference in the passage of time relative to the people on the night side.

Time and Aether:

One theory about the passage of time deals with movement altering the density of some substance of the universe. The "quantum medium" or "aether" or whatever term people choose to use to describe it. According to Einstein's Special Theory, movement affects something's relative mass and the way Time passes for it. For relative mass, if movement causes some variation in the density of aether, then the amount of mass stays the same, but the amount of "space" around it changes. Thus its mass relative to the density of aether around it results in its relative mass changing. Processes and reactions could be slowed due to this thinning effect, causing the perceived Time variation.

One theory about aether dealt with aether dragging. Tests didn't show any kind of difference in the speed of light that would have shown that the Earth was moving through something, so it was assumed that the Earth or any large body might drag along a chunk of the aether with it. Something like the way our atmosphere moves along with the planet but not exactly. Further tests kept using light as a measure, and resulted in people claiming that aether didn't exist because they didn't see any change in the speed of light relative to distant bodies. I could go on about Kaluza Klein theory and our universe being multidimensional instead of 3 spatial dimensions, and that light acts as both a particle and a wave because it exists on some border between dimensions, but my main point here is about Time.

Background:

In a previous post in my blog, I went over some alternate origin of the universe ideas. I know that if God really wanted his existence proven without a doubt, he wouldn't have set things up the way he did. One of those touched on the recurring theme in ancient religions of some powerful being separating the "earth and sky" and such. That what existed before was separated in some manner to take on different aspects.

We can apply this idea to Kaluza Klein theory, which itself can explain the Unified Field Theory by looking at the universe as more than 3 spatial dimensions. We live in a multidimensional reality, where those dimensions overlap, but our simple senses only see things as 3 dimensional.

Time:

Naturally some dork is going to try to add Time to that and say 4, but Time is very different in nature. Actually, according to Einstein's Special Theory, Time itself is not constant, and is relative to the movement of an object. If the multiple dimensions of our universe are not consistent, then Time may vary within each level, as movement relative to a stationary object could be considered different than in another nearby dimension if that dimension was not as "large" or "dense" as another within some point in what we see as 3D space. Kozyrev's work even posed the question of how time varies in a rotating object, where the relative speed of the outer edge of the object would be much faster than the center, so how does the Time variation apply to that? So Time can't be considered just another number to add in. But I don't have time to get into all that right now. Moving along.

Changes in the Laws of Physics:

What if those dimensional levels are not directly attached to each other? What if they're not glued together in a way? If there was a Big Bang, then those dimensional levels may not be expanding at the same rate. The odd effects we see in distant galaxies, like "Dark Matter", could be a weaker influence or lack of influence from some dimension that we here are exposed to.

Perhaps as the ancient religious texts say, some levels of this multidimensional reality were separated from the rest. The very laws of physics changed in some extreme way because the dimensional level that influenced certain reactions no longer was in contact with the rest.

Variations in Dimensional Influence:

Playing off of String Theory, we can guess that vibrations in certain levels of this multidimensional reality explain different things we see in physics. That it's not just the nature of the vibrations, but the dimensional level that those vibrations are in that determine what effects they have on others. This follows with some of the ancient concepts of things being an interplay of Earth, Water, Wind, and Fire.

Perhaps Light behaves as both a particle and a wave because that vibration exists on some border between two or more dimensions, thus causing it to take on aspects of those dimensional influences.   So it's not only that there are multiple dimensions that each influence how things behave, but that there are vibrations that exist on the borders of those dimensions. But what if there's a gap between some  dimensional influences where something else becomes an influence where it would normally be overwhelmed?

From a metaphysical point of view, things that existed in multiple states, such as fog that is considered a mixing of Air and Water, were attributed with mystical powers. Light is considered to have mystical power over "evil spirits". Perhaps they fall into some gap between dimensions and take on new aspects we don't normally see in similar effects. The mixing of certain things puts them in touch with a whole new dimensional influence.

Thought, Magic, and Miracles:

Different research has shown evidence, despite the ranting of skeptics, that emotion and thought can alter anything from random number generators around the world (The Global Consciousness Project) to changing how gravity affects something (N. A. Kozyrev). Perhaps the further back in time we look, the more powerful thought was for affecting reality. Ancient tales of powerful miracles were commonplace because various dimensions that make up our universe have since shifted. Folklore holds that on Hallows Eve the boundaries between the realm of the spirits and that of the living is weaker and it is easier for them to cross. Imagine that on a more massive scale.

From a Fantasy and Science Fiction point of view, some fantasy tales talk about worlds where "magic is dying". Perhaps those could be the result of some levels of a multidimensional reality separating or collapsing in on themselves, changing how thought energies can alter those realities. Perhaps thought itself could be affected, and the sentient beings within a given region of a universe could find complex thought becoming more difficult to achieve. The change possibly even cycling over countless millennia. But that's stepping a little too far outside of what we "officially" understand of our own reality, and I only mention this for the sake of giving more extreme examples.

Liquid Reality:

To repeat the basic concept, if there are multiple dimensions that make up what we see as our 3D universe, they don't necessarily have to expand at the same rate, nor stay in the same "spot" over time.

If we mix in the idea that the "fabric of the universe" or the "aether" does exist and has a fluid nature, then it is not only the influence or absence of the dimensions themselves, but the concentration or "density" of the medium therein that can affect how much or how little of an effect there is on nearby dimensional levels.

Born in 1843 to a well-off naval captain, Dane Jaimeson, and his wife, Laura, as a child she very much idolized her father as a hero for his career path, even though it kept him away from home most of the time. When Margaret was seven years old, she disguised herself as a boy and signed up to crew for her father's boat in the navy under the name Henry Smith. Though her disguise was anything but thick, her own father didn't recognize her for the entire two years she worked as a cabin boy on his vessel, The Redwater, probably a result of his long leaves of absence from the Jaimesons' London home. Eventually, it was her difficulty urinating standing up that did Margaret in and got her discovered by a fellow cabin boy. Her father was humiliated by his daughter 'parading around in men's clothes and trying to do a man's job' and sent her home with a harsh reprimand to her angy and worried mother. Margaret was sent away to a strict boarding school immediately afterwards to learn to be a 'proper lady'.

She took her punishment in stride and excelled at her schooling until the invention of the aether-powered airship sparked the desire to travel in her once again. She held off on this until she was sixteen and completed her education, however, only succumbing to the desire when her mother began to look at prospective suitors for her (as she believed) now-proper daughter. Of course, rather than risk discovery by rejoining the crew on her father's boat (which had been converted for air use), the now sixteen-year-old was smart enough to sign on somewhere else, under the command of an admiral at port by the name of Jacks on his flagship, The Daedalus. By binding her chest, cutting her hair, and renaming herself Lysander Lyell, Margaret was able to pass for a fairly runtish young man two years her junior. For three years she lived and worked in the open sky on The Daedelus, rising to the rank of Midshipman before her right arm was taken off by an aether cannon in a skirmish with a French ship.

This caused her secret to be revealed once more, to both the ship's surgeon and Admiral Jacks, the first and only other he told. Jacks made the decision to keep Margaret's secret, as "Lysander" was one of his favorite men and he believed the young sailor to show great leadership potential. So he ordered the surgeon to keep quiet about it and allowed Margaret to continue serving as Lysander, though her duties were severely limited as she was recovering. She learned to cope without her dominant arm for several months until they got back to land and an aether prosthesis was able to be procured for her.

Jacks took Margaret under his wing then, becoming to her the caring father she never had because her own was so distant and cold. Life was good for Margaret for nearly a year after that, until The Daedalus was commissioned by the Queen to become a privateer to help irritate the French during the stalemate. Margaret wasn't comfortable with this being the ship's sole purpose, as she thought it made them no better than the pirates it was their job to stop for the common good as part of the Royal Navy. And she wasn't the only one, either.