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Redefining Reality - The Intellectual Implications of Modern Science

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Einstein had similar motives at the start <strong>of</strong> the 20 th century, when<br />

<br />

it lacked an organic place for gravitation. This lack <strong>of</strong> unity is<br />

what, in part, fueled his obsessive search for a general theory<br />

<br />

display that, then the theory needed to be changed. This is what<br />

<br />

which space itself curved.<br />

<br />

Hermann Weyl was a student <strong>of</strong> the mathematician and<br />

philosopher Edmund Husserl and went on to become an important<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

<br />

Recall that, with the general theory <strong>of</strong> relativity, Einstein had<br />

transformed gravitation from being a force between two bodies<br />

into the interaction <strong>of</strong> mass and energy with the underlying<br />

space. Space became malleable, curving and bending based on<br />

the distribution <strong>of</strong> stuff in it and dictating to that stuff how it<br />

would move.<br />

<strong>The</strong> way to determine how much space curves is to compare<br />

the orientation <strong>of</strong> unit vectors. A is an arrow and a <br />

is an arrow that is one unit long.<br />

<br />

<br />

Place the arrow at a spot in the space so that it is pointing<br />

straight up according to someone who is standing at that spot<br />

in space.<br />

Allow the arrow to move around the space such that an<br />

<br />

points straight up according to the observer. If we were on a<br />

sphere and starting at the North Pole, the arrow would be<br />

pointing straight up as we normally think <strong>of</strong> it.<br />

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