Monday, October 10, 2016
Galileo's kingpin
Convective thought.
In the big picture, it's just plain ODD that the dispute between heliocentric and geocentric views is always treated as important.
The universe doesn't have a center, so there's no centric. Galileo wasn't right or wrong, and his opponents weren't right or wrong. The entire argument was about convenience of calculation. Nothing more.
Using the sun as centerpoint makes the math easier when you're predicting seasonal motions or the positions of other planets. Using the earth as center makes the math easier when you're dealing with orbital precession or tides or time zones. For calculations at the galaxy level, both earth and sun are completely irrelevant.
We don't treat other centerpoint decisions with the same degree of drama and importance.
For instance, Polistra could insist that the left kingpin of her Bantam is the centerpoint for ALL cars and trucks and trains. This would make it easy to determine the path and travels of her Bantam, and hard to figure and predict every other car. Nobody would listen, nobody would even consider this to be a worthy argument. We understand that each vehicle needs to be figured with respect to its own steering angles and center of gravity, not some other car's centers.
How come we understand this with steering but not with the earth? More generally, how come we don't understand this point in politics and economics? We assume that all governmental actions must rotate around the axis of Bibi Netanyahu, and all economic actions in the world rotate around the axis of Goldman's share value.
¶ 6:44 AM 
For instance, Polistra could insist that the left kingpin of her Bantam is the centerpoint for ALL cars and trucks and trains. This would make it easy to determine the path and travels of her Bantam, and hard to figure and predict every other car. Nobody would listen, nobody would even consider this to be a worthy argument. We understand that each vehicle needs to be figured with respect to its own steering angles and center of gravity, not some other car's centers.
How come we understand this with steering but not with the earth? More generally, how come we don't understand this point in politics and economics? We assume that all governmental actions must rotate around the axis of Bibi Netanyahu, and all economic actions in the world rotate around the axis of Goldman's share value.
¶ 6:44 AM
