[Mowgli]

Science is a description of reality. Reality, from the perspective of science and scientists, is what we sense or an extension of it based on our prior experiences and theories. This simple relationship between reality is science is what is depicted below.



We do make take into account some perceptual effects and disentangle them from our reality before treating it as an input to science. For instance, a we know that when we see a star fifty light years away, what we are looking at is the way it was fifty years ago. So the right picture is more like what is shown below.



The arena where science does its thing is, by and large, the yellow box, our "Perceived Reality," with the tacit assumption that it is the reality. This approach is understandable and valid because we don't have any access to the reddish box, "Absolute Reality." Despite this inaccessiblitly, can we guess the congnitive and perceptual constraints in our sense or reality, or at least partially remove their effects? This is the question attempted in The Unreal Universe.

When it comes to physics, its arena is made of space and time. Physics describes phenomena in space and time (either observed or theorized) with the tacit assumption that space and time, as we observe them or imagine them, are real. These descriptions are therefore considered theories of reality. The role of our sensing, perception and cognitive processes in creating the reality of space and time is mostly ignored.

The view presented in my theory of everything is that space and time are the end result of our perception. They are a part of a "Perceived Reality" in the picture above. There is an "Absolute Reality" generating our sensory data. Thus, in this view, we have an absolute reality, the process of perception, perceived reality and then physics as a description of the perceived reality. All the sensing is done using light.

Now, if we make a simple assumption that the absolute reality is the classical (pre-relativistic) space and time and work out the process of perception using the speed of light, we get something quite close to special relativity, with time dilation and space contraction and all other weird effects. Furthermore, certain astrophysical phenomena look like perceptual effects. This is the short summary of the physics ideas presented here.

If you agree with this view, or find this view intriguing, welcome to The Unreal Universe! See for yourself how deep the rabbit hole goes!

[mkirkpatrick]

Thanks Mowgli,and welcome to the toe,I send you greetings from England,your theory
looks really interesting,will take my time and read it through.

regards michael.

[Mowgli]

Thanks Michael. Look forward to reading your comments soon...

[Mowgli]

In my recent article in IJMPD (International Journal of Modern Physics D, Vol. 16, No. 6 (2007) 983-1000), I presented a new model for GRBs and symmetric radio sources. The article is basically a comparison between the frequency evolution in a sonic boom and the spectral evolution observed in GRBs and AGN radio sources. In other words, it asks the question if a bulk object (a star, for instance) moves across our field of vision at FTL speeds, what will we see? The answer is a good fit to GRBs and radio sources. The post-print version of the article can be found at http://TheUnrealUniverse.com/unreal-luminal.pdf

I have an animation in my website illustrating it, which can be accessed from the menu: Topics > Physics > Animation, or going directly to
http://TheUnrealUniverse.com/anim.shtml

My view is that SR (the coordinate transformation part of it, that is) can be interpreted as perceptual effects because space itself is a perceptual effect. IOW, objects may travel FTL in an "absolute" reality. Just that in our "perceived" reality we see them as GRBs or symmetric objects or as obeying SR etc. The main objection to this line of thinking is that nothing can travel FTL, so what is the point in speculating? The counter argument to this objection usually becomes an involved and lengthy philosophical expose, which is half my book The Unreal Universe.

Just wanted to bring my book, The Unreal Universe, to your attention. It was published in Singapore about three month ago.

The Unreal Universe looks at the interconnections among different branches of knowledge. Through these links, it examines and exposes our basic assumptions in our commonsense, science and belief structure. More than a philosophical inquiry, this exploration yields compelling explanations to some poorly understood phenomena in astrophysics and cosmology. As mentioned, some of my explanations have appeared in the International Journal of Modern Physics D.

You can find The Unreal Universe in the local bookstores in Singapore. The bookstore price is SG$26.25 (about US$17.50).

If you would like to buy a copy from the author, please visit http://www.TheUnrealUniverse.com. The online price is lower -- US$13.95 (plus shipping charges) -- and comes with a free eBook, if needed.

I look forward to hearing from you. If you think my book is of interest to any of your friends, could you forward this message to them? Thanks.