Interesting experiment!
What I missed (as a non-scientist) is a live explanation of what is happening while I'm navigating this virtual world and changing parameters.
This would be a great way to learn!
Show HN: What if the speed of light was 5 km/h?
111–120 of 241 posts
Re: Show HN: What if the speed of light was 5 km/h?
#112Light doesn't have a "speed" as in the usual meaning of the word "speed". Talking about speed requires defining spatial distances and time durations, which are in turn defined or created by the phenomenon of light. Light doesn't "travel". It's just an exchange of entangled photons creating the concept of time duration and distance.
So how do you explain that light can be slowed down?
Re: Show HN: What if the speed of light was 5 km/h?
#113The speed of light, wave-particle duality, and so on, always make me feel that the universe also has a "computing power"
Re: Show HN: What if the speed of light was 5 km/h?
#114Why are the lamp posts blinking in a weird way?
I think that light coming from different parts of the lamp arrives at different times. So if the lamp turns off, you see the part closest to you go black first.
Re: Show HN: What if the speed of light was 5 km/h?
#115The Schwarzschild radius is proportional to c^-2, so this would mean the Schwarzschild radius of the Earth would be about 400 billion km, and the Earth would be a black hole.
If you're allowed to change the speed of light, you can also change the gravitational constant G to compensate since the Schwarzschild radius is r = 2GM/c^2, where M is the mass of the object.
Re: Show HN: What if the speed of light was 5 km/h?
#116This is awesome. I always think about this. As humans, we are very limited in what we can perceive and experience. A higher form of entity could have a completely different way of viewing nature and the world. Just a thought experiment for you guys: imagine a bacteria that survives inside humans. It doesn't even know what a human is. For the bacteria, its entire world is simply the environment in which it lives. It d…
Woah your reply feels very much like Deja Vu to me - my OP on X from months ago
Gitanjali GulveSehgal @gigi_sehgal Jun 22 Replying to @fermatslibrary Contrarian Takes: 1. We live in a “box” governed by the compute we are capable of. Perhaps the rockets are out there in a form we cannot observe. ( borrowing from Quantum Ruliad ). E.g What do bacteria think of us? Do we “exist” for them? Are we infrastructure or entities to them? Do they think we do not exist? We cannot see Neutrinos streaming thru our bodies but atleast we managed to figure out that they existed. Who knows what else exists that our senses and technology cannot perceive or reverse engineer existence of? 2. Perhaps they have remote observation capability, 3. Perhaps its a simulation we are in a space alien overlord’s lab 4. Perhaps the Men in Black wiped our memory each time we see them 5. What were those drones flying over DC? 6. Perhaps they are already here
Re: Show HN: What if the speed of light was 5 km/h?
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
> At 99.999% C, the traveler would take ~11,000 years if we add more 9s, is it possible to reduce that number to within a human lifespan?
Yeah, it is and the math get's really counterintuitive to grasp since humans (at least me) have trouble thinking in exponential terms. If you accelerate at 1g constantly for 1y you travel 0.5 light years. You do that for 10.5 years and you reach the center of the milky way. You do that for another 4 (~14 total) years and you are in the Andromeda galaxy, and you do that for another 10 years (~24 years total) and you r…
> math get's really counterintuitive to grasp
People always say that about speed of light stuff, but I don’t get it. Do you have any more examples of counterintuitive math?
Because what you’re describing is basically the equivalent to compound interest in finance. (e.g. investing $100 at 10% interest over 10 years results in $260)
Re: Show HN: What if the speed of light was 5 km/h?
#118[deleted]
Re: Show HN: What if the speed of light was 5 km/h?
#119Whenever I think about light speed being fast, I imagine myself standing at the edge of the solar system and watching a hypothetical photon travel from the Sun to the Earth and taking 8 minutes. Suddenly it doesn't feel like light is really all that fast except at human scales. 5 km/h would be fascinating though.
The speed of light is unbelievably slow, not even as a cosmic scale, but on earth. We cannot play competitive multiplayer games globally, without 300ms ping. I dream of a world playing Black Ops 2 on a original PS3 in 2026 getting into a lobby because latency is low.
[deleted]
Re: Show HN: What if the speed of light was 5 km/h?
#120Earlier quoted context omitted.
The speed of light is unbelievably slow, not even as a cosmic scale, but on earth. We cannot play competitive multiplayer games globally, without 300ms ping. I dream of a world playing Black Ops 2 on a original PS3 in 2026 getting into a lobby because latency is low.
How do you arrive at 300ms?
This is a great example of information taking time: