[volantis]

This of course, implies that one cannot calculate a single value for the mass of the aether, since I maintain that this Universe is constantly growing and creating more space and more matter as we speak, so perhaps it would be better to exact a ratio of proportions than a definitive value.

The mass associated with the Aether in my model is for a quantum unit of Aether, not the total of the entire Universe. The Aether is fluid because it is composed of quantum units. The Universe is both constantly expanding and contracting, depending upon where you look. This is why galaxies spiral inward. Matter and Aether are being produced in the out periphery of the galaxy and are collapsing primarily at the center. It is like pulling the plug in the bathtub with the water running at the same time.

As for the empirical evidence, the fact is that this Universe is accellerating and that it had a beginning and that this is the characteristic of a process which is in perpetual motion so we can derive the one unknown thereby without using mathematics.

Without quantification, it is just a guess. The guess might be right, but there cannot be any proof.

(I don't at all see the philosphical implications, perhaps you can enlighten me)

Philosophy is what science would be without the math.

I attribute the very slight "drift" of the aether observed by Miller

It is not a "slight" drift. It is 10 kilometers per second. The Earth is moving with respect to a fluid Aether at the speed of 22,369 mph.

I agree that my post #37 is highly theoretical but as a matter of fact the inference is that there were (are) many big bangs by virtue of this description and as evidenced by the photographic evidence of colliding galaxis and perhaps soon by recently extrapolated data from the background radiation studies done by COBE and others which curiously thus far do not seem to support the currently accepted model of a Big Bang Universe.

The APM shows that there are many "slow bangs" and black holes. I agree that there is no solid evidence for a single Big Bang event. It is likely that the Universe has always existed and will continue to do so through eternity. There are expansions and contractions going on all the time, depending upon where you look.

How does one use the value of c in an equation? Einstein's E=mc² is given to symbolize the huge amount of energy represented by matter and should not be taken too literally.

Einstein's equation is not an equation at all, it is a formula. Most people don't comprehend this. And you are correct, it shouldn't be taken seriously. Matter is never converted to energy. There is no such physical thing as energy, thus there is nothing that matter can be converted to. Matter always remains matter while it exists in the physical Universe. Energy is a property of matter, just as waves are a property of matter.

Dave