How is it known to exist...has he been into space? Has he swam around in it.? Has he seen or touched it?
Yeah. You're in space right now. That's not the tricky part of the model. I'm going to guess he's been swimming at some point in his life, and it's exceedingly hard to do that without occupying space.
Sure, equations are lacking, but the basic entity is described. If you can't work out how to develop equations from the description, why should anyone else be able to?
The idea is simple enough. He uses the principle of diffusion, and multiple analogues, and claims that as this covers all observed systems, whether matter or energy, it must be a law. If it is a law, he concludes it applies to space.
The mention of Turing is basically just an aside; things that obey the law don't necessarily even out.
My challenge to you and you pal Jane is to present some firm evidence experimental, mathematical, or even observational that points toward the existence of the aether existing rather than because he says so. If you fail to do this then his theory can be filed under 'B' for bin.
Go to the fourth section of the overview. The evidence takes a while to explain, but the idea is that he takes this principle, he determines what the consequences of it would be, should it exist, and then notes that this is in line with what it is we observe. Ultimately, that's what scientific evidence comes down to.
This is completely counter to what is stated in the DET. Aether is equivalent to space (or the fabric of space), which JRowe defines as the distance between 2 points A and B. More aether, the greater the distance between them. I made no reference to mass in my posts, when referring to size I am specifically referring to the physical dimensions of an object (length, breadth, height), since by definition, that is directly related to concentration of aether.
It's not counter to it. The point is that the size of an object is dependent on how much space it occupies; if it starts occupying more space then that just defies the laws of physics. An object always occupies the same amount of space. If this space is stretched thin, then when viewed from an external perspective, the space it occupies is longer. However, if lots of space is packed together, then an object still only occupies the same amount of space; said amount isn't as much as what's there.
He explains it as the following:
JRowe:A classical analogy in relativity is to imagine space as a blanket: under DET, imagine this blanket is composed of some stretchy fabric, such as woven elastic.
An object will be, say, the size of five adjacent lines of elastic. If you pinch and pull the fabric, the number of lines will not alter: however, when compared to another five lines of elastic, it is possible for an object to appear longer (by comparison) than another, same-sized object.I don't think it's contrary to the theory to explain it like this.
At the equator, the small amount of space means that when you stand there, a leg on either side, you go all the way through the centre of the Earth. The small amount of space means that, if you're viewing this from somewhere outside the Earth, or looking at it on one of his diagrams, you seem to fill up more room than you would in a regular concentration.
Compare it to the Sun. if you stand at the equator, you're wider than the Sun and all the planets. If you start adding more aether to the inside of the world, though, this wouldn't happen. There'd be no instantaneous crossing, so you'd have to walk it, and in doing so you'd become smaller than the Sun.
That makes more sense in terms of the DET (reduction of aetheric density = reduced distance), but is different to your first reply when you said objects have a set size and always occupy a certain distance. If you take your first answer as correct, then the aether is reduced to the status of an arbitrary (variable) coordinate system, since objects always have the same size. The DET, however, states otherwise: you reduce aether, you reduce space, which is the same as distance.
I was unclear, sorry; when I said that objects always occupy a set distance, the distance is still variable relative to other distances under the laws of DET. JRowe's elastic analogy above, I hope, demonstrates what I meant.
I agree, but a logical consequence is that this agreed increase of aetheric concentration means that there is an increase in the distance between the upper-hemiplane and the lower-hemi-plane. So now, when you cross the equator and move from the upper to lower hemi-plane, instead of the transition being instantaneous, there is a measurable time delay. The consequences of this are, we should be able to see the region in between the 2 planes as we transition. Worse than that, our bodies will be ripped in 2 pieces if we straddle the equator.
Since this does not happen, it appears there is another fundamental flaw in the present description of the DET.
None of this explains why the gap zone with negligible aether never increases its concentration, despite the presence right in its middle of a zone of high concentration aether.
This is one fundamental internal inconsitency of DET: according to the definitions and descriptions, aether should flow from the "Sun/Planet" zone into the "neglible aether zone", but a clear consequence of that is the diffculty previously described at the equator.
The problem is that the increase in concentration only exists for an instant in time.
Normally there would be a total low concentration inside the Earth, from what I've gathered. The only reason space exists there, is that it flows in 'faster' than it flows out, because it's heading to the centre from all directions. That's what forms the 'iris' concentration.
The low concentration is basically lowering itself at about the same rate as the higher concentration flows in. The current system of concentrations is more or less fixed, because any alterations are immediately corrected for as more aether flows to any newly created low concentration.