Einstein’s Special Relativity is heavily based on the work of other scientists, most notably Poincare, Maxwell and Lorentz. Of particular interest to any discussion of space-time dilation is that the Lorentz Transformation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorentz_transformation) unequivocally captured the dilation of space and time that became the cornerstone of Einstein’s Special Relativity.
In essence, Einstein built upon the work of Lorentz and others to provide a description of space-time that shows that it is not the sole, exclusive property either of the observer or of the universe, but rather that space-time is a property shared in some way between each observer and his/her external universe.
In sharp contrast, the biologist Dr. Robert Lanza attempted to portray space-time as the exclusive property of the observer, in his book Biocentrism (BenBella Books, 2009). (http://www.amazon.com/Biocentrism-Consciousness-Understanding-Nature-Universe/dp/1935251740/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1298577713&sr=8-1) Although I don’t subscribe to Dr. Lanza’s perspective, he asks really thought-provoking questions in his book that made it a splendid read which expanded the range of my thinking.
The discussion of the relationship between the observer and the external universe is perhaps the single largest component of my soon-to-be-released book, The Unobservable Universe. (http://www.theunobservableuniverse.com) In my book, I propose that this intimate relationship (between any individual observer and his/her external universe) is very different than the one traditionally described by either relativity or quantum mechanics. I propose an alternative perspective on the process of perception, which is essential to the development of a better understanding of the elusive observer/universe relationship.
No matter what, science has pretty definitively established over the past 150 years or so that space-time is NOT a sole and exclusive property of the “external” universe and that the perception of space-time varies quite predictably and consistently with the state (inertial reference frame) of the observer.
The real question is not about how the perception of space-time varies with the conditions of the observer, but why it takes the form it does. This is where you’ll find the really interesting stuff to ponder, in my opinion.
Now, I’d like your opinion. What do you think about the form of the relationship that we perceive for space-time dilation?
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