Distance is Redundant
I spent a period of time as a child thoroughly convinced that the concept of distance was redundant. Why should we care about distance when we already have time and a convenient constant: the speed of light?
We were brought up to conceptualize that two points are X feet/meters/etc. apart from one another. But we could just as easily do away with distance altogether; two points could be considered to be N seconds apart. Instead of stating that the Earth is 93 million miles away from the Sun we would state that they are 8 minutes apart. See, no distance component is required; time alone is sufficient.
Of course my little belief system was demolished the day my know-it-all elementary teacher introduced the concept of acceleration. Distance turned out to be pretty damn important after all.
- It isn’t all that difficult to internalize a pretty harebrained idea.
- Always be on the lookout for new ideas/information. You never know when you will learn something that changes your entire universe.
Care to share any of your misguided childhood beliefs/ideas?