We Still Don’t Appreciate the Threat of Constant Exposure to Misinformation
You can’t make an informed decision about anything if you don’t know the facts
One of the best decisions I ever made was to pick up a minor in physics to go along with my English major. At some point during class or a lab, it would usually come up that I was the only English major in the group. That led to a few quizzical looks, but both my fellow students and my teachers came to appreciate my unique perspective.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could return to the understanding that our diverse perspectives should be a source of strength rather than conflict?
I once asked the professor if the universe appeared flat when perceived through the reference frame of light. This was during a lecture on “length contraction,” a phenomenon that’s derived from special relativity. We had a problem that involved a pole vaulter carrying a pole that was longer than a barn. We had to calculate how close to the speed of light the pole vaulter would have to run to get the pole to fit inside.
This made me wonder if distance doesn’t exist at all as far as light is concerned, or time for that matter. I was just trying to comprehend the nature of special relativity as a college student should. But when I asked the…
