Relativity Illuminated, Addendum II

Addendum II
The Perspective Analogy

The sort of perspective one learns in Art class, the famous ‘vanishing point’ and whatnot... well, that system of perspective pertains to all 3-dimensional vistas, whether depicted on canvas as a still life, or seen with one’s own eyes. When you consider a Fourth dimension, that of dynamism; entailing time, energy, movement and gravity – then there’s yet another system of perspective they call Relativity, Special & General. There are parallels between 3-D and 4-D perspective distortions. In both cases, all non-native things are belittled; with the belittlement converging upon a precise totality as the degree of alienation (from the observer) increases.

Looking down a hypothetically long LONG street, the curb lines, though carefully engineered to be parallel, appear to diminish in separation and approach a distinct vanishing point where all such parallel lines converge. The distortions attendant 3-D perspective are a function of spatial measure, being simply the shrinking in size, to oblivion, of all things distant from the observer. Not surprisingly, the distortions attendant 4-D perspective are a function of dynamic, being essentially the belittlement, to oblivion, of phenomena whose dynamic is alien to the observer by virtue of velocity or acceleration (slash gravity). That belittlement is the slowing of clocks (and of course a perceived length contraction as well). And just how is time dilation a belittlement? Simple: any light or signal emanating from a moving object is red-shifted, dulled, less vibrant and just less energetic than the same signal shone from a stationary source. This is a direct consequence of the time dilation thing.

The analogy to the vanishing point occurs in relativity when the dynamics of a phenomenon rise to the infinitely alien, or say ‘fully saturated alien’: that being either velocity at full clip ‘c’, or a G-force sufficient to form an Event Horizon (as for example, at Black Holes). As motion approaches light speed, time dilation approaches totality. So theoretically, there would be no dynamism, no time passage whatsoever at light speed. [To wit light itself is primitive, each photon a bare rudimentary ‘message unit’ which cannot emanate anything at all ‘during flight’.] Similarly, time dilation approaches totality nearing the event horizon of a Black Hole (from the onlooker’s perspective, of course), and any signals emanating therefrom are weakened, red-shifted and slated to disappear. In general, the observer finds less dynamic attributable to phenomena that come under the bias of alien G-forces. The greater the G-force, the greater is this belittlement, even unto vanishment.