Tim Cook wrote:
> Well, sure, if you make *that* particular assumption...but the example I 
> was reading didn't specify, so I was confused.

Well, if they're not the same distance from you when they flash, why would 
you expect to see the flashes at the same time?

Or maybe I'm confused. You might be right. There's a "regardless of 
distance" clause at the end that makes the thing nonsensical except for 
c==infinity.

I read it more along the lines of "the bullet goes the same speed regardless 
of how fast the gun is moving when you fire it" sort of thing.

> Still am.  Observation being one thing and actuality being another, 
> things do happen simultaneously. 

Only if they're close to each other. There really is no "at the same time" 
for objects widely separated.

> Saying that they don't because you 
> can't have an 'outside' frame of reference is hubris, imo. 

No. If you can have two events happen in one order for me and another order 
for you, and there's *nobody* who can say what "at the same time" means, 
then how do you have simultaneity?

Basically, you can't have "equal times" unless space has "equal places".

OK, so take a vector. What you're saying is "I can't believe the Z component 
of a vector is sometimes zero and sometimes not zero, regardless of where 
you put the origin and how you rotate the axes."  The only way the Z 
component stays zero regardless of where you put your axes is if the other 
components are zero also.

 > Like saying
> nothing in the universe exists outside the radius of light being able to 
> travel since the big bang, with the observer (us) at the centre.  It's 
> the whole earth-centric universe all over again.

It's not earth centric because it's true of everyone. And "exists" means 
"capable of having any sort of affect on the observer", in which case the 
sentence is true. :-)  It's as "non-existent" as the future is.

-- 
   Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   Understanding the structure of the universe
    via religion is like understanding the
     structure of computers via Tron.

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