Imagine a simple experiment with a noise-making device in an enclosed space and the air being sucked out of that space. Gradually the sound from that noise-making device fades. Eventually the sound is gone.
Let's say that somebody in Ohio conducted that experiment in November.
Now imagine somebody in New Mexico conducting the same experiment in July. Then somebody in South Africa conducting the same experiment ten years later in February.
The results are the same every time somebody conducts the experiment. Everybody agrees that the experiment confirms that sound cannot travel through a vacuum.
The general public is then told that the same experiment has been conducted by many different researchers and the results overwhelmingly support the idea that sound cannot travel through a vacuum. The general public is told that the same conditions were re-created each time.
But did everybody really conduct the same experiment? Were the same conditions really recreated every time?
One person did it in Ohio. Another person did it in South Africa. One person did it in July. Another person did it ten years later. Different points in space. Different points in time.
Wouldn't repeating the experiment really be like this:
1.) Somebody manipulates variables to certain conditions at X degrees latitude and Y degrees longitude at 1:05 P.M. local time on November 9, 2008.
2.) Another person manipulates the same variables to the same conditions at X degrees latitude and Y degrees longitude at 1:05 P.M. local time on November 9, 2008.
To repeat an experiment wouldn't everybody have to travel back in time? To repeate an experiment wouldn't everybody have to be at exactly the same point in space?
Does any experiment really tell us anything more than "At X point in time at Y point in space under Z conditions sound did not travel through a vacuum"?
Let's say that somebody in Ohio conducted that experiment in November.
Now imagine somebody in New Mexico conducting the same experiment in July. Then somebody in South Africa conducting the same experiment ten years later in February.
The results are the same every time somebody conducts the experiment. Everybody agrees that the experiment confirms that sound cannot travel through a vacuum.
The general public is then told that the same experiment has been conducted by many different researchers and the results overwhelmingly support the idea that sound cannot travel through a vacuum. The general public is told that the same conditions were re-created each time.
But did everybody really conduct the same experiment? Were the same conditions really recreated every time?
One person did it in Ohio. Another person did it in South Africa. One person did it in July. Another person did it ten years later. Different points in space. Different points in time.
Wouldn't repeating the experiment really be like this:
1.) Somebody manipulates variables to certain conditions at X degrees latitude and Y degrees longitude at 1:05 P.M. local time on November 9, 2008.
2.) Another person manipulates the same variables to the same conditions at X degrees latitude and Y degrees longitude at 1:05 P.M. local time on November 9, 2008.
To repeat an experiment wouldn't everybody have to travel back in time? To repeate an experiment wouldn't everybody have to be at exactly the same point in space?
Does any experiment really tell us anything more than "At X point in time at Y point in space under Z conditions sound did not travel through a vacuum"?