Special Relativity Book Intro.

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Introduction:

special relativity

The search for a perfect understanding of the cosmos has inspired many with a thirst for knowledge that can only be quenched by a perpetual striving for a more complete picture of the universe. This is a perpetual quest for meaning and understanding that will one day take men and women to the stars and galaxies where they will abundantly multiply. But if this is to be so, it must be understood that the biblical account of creation presents not so much a cosmological framework for the followers of the monotheistic religions Christianity, Islam and Judaism, as an explanation to the meaning of existence. It is a starting point on a journey of a relationship with a benevolent deity whose providence will guide, protect and nourish the believer. Faith and spiritual conviction are required to make a complete response to: Why do I exist? Why am I here? These are questions which can only be answered outside of the realm of scientific inquiry and are best left to imams, monks, priests, rabbis, theologians and most importantly, the minds, hearts and spirits of the individual believers.

Scientific inquiry on the other hand, is circumscribed, in other words, bounded by those ideas which are provable in a laboratory, measured in an experiment or computationally proven based upon what are known as principles or axioms. In mathematics, an axiom is a powerful device since it is an object of reality that exists without proof. It is a generally accepted statement such as:

if A = C and B = D then

A + B = C + D

This is axiomatic. The power of these axioms is used to create theorems, to formulate further conjectures and or postulates which yield further underlying realities or theories. It is important to note that the conjectures, postulates, theories and theorems thus formulated can never violate the underlying axioms. If they do, then they render the entire theoretical construction nonsensical or all of reality unreal. Thus, a theory can not be validated if it clearly violates basic axiomatic first principles upon which all knowledge is based. Nor can a theory contradict the postulates upon which rest its fundamental tenets since it would by doing so nullify itself.

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