..On the Relativity of Truth ..and Universality

Einstein , in his paper on relativity  in 1905 , put forward two theories (now called , postulates of Special  Relativity ) :

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1.     ) All laws of physics are  same for any two observers in UNIFORM motion relative to each other .

n                2)   Speed of light is  same for any observer , irrespective of his motion or the speed of the light source ,itself. (that comes round 3.0 l km/sec.)

  
These theories , along with their consequences ( time dilation , Energy-Mass equivalence ,length contraction etc. ) were found  to be revolutionary in the study of modern physics and changed the entire view of studying motion of sub-atomic particles. (..everything became relative afterwards )

But, why do we consider these theories in this blog post..because the idea behind this post came from these theories only …and are related to it .Though, we’ll talk about people rather than sub-atomic particles and try to derive the analogy between these theories and dynamics governing human psyche ..on a  macroscopic level .

Consider three persons ..say X,Y and Z ,who are  moving at a speed of 10 ,20 and 30 km/hr respectively ( but they are all oblivion to their own  speeds )..they all observe the other two from their respective frame of references …and here it is what happens :

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           --X observes Y moving at a speed of 10 km/hr (20-10) in forward direction                (RELATIVE TO X) and tells  Z that Y is moving fast ….to which Z replies : “ what are you..mad ? .. he’s moving in backward direction…he’s slow “  ( as Z observes Y going backward at a speed of 10 km/hr (30-20 ) from his frame of reference ) ..and both X and Z don’t talk to each other as their RELATIVE    TRUTHS of the outer world (observation of Y ,in this case) are different .

n      -- Almost same thing happens between Y and Z when they both observe that X is going back …but according to Z :: X is VERY slow  and for Y :: X is slow ..moving in backward direction but NOT with the same magnitude as observed by Z . So, the relative truths of Y and Z are different  ,too .  

n            --   And last , between X and Y . For X :: Z is VERY fast ( observes him moving in forward direction at a speed of 20 km/hr (30-10) ) …but for Y , Z is fast but not that fast ( 10 km/hr ,forward) .So, both X and Y agree upon the direction of motion of Z but NOT on his speed . ..So, their RELATIVE  TRUTHS  vary too …and they develop a little difference of opinion ,too.

                                                                        What we see here is that , although all three of them are CORRECT WITHIN THEIR FRAME OF REFERENCES  ,but  being  OBLIVION TO THEIR OWN SPEED …they  INTERPRET  truth in different way . Now, suppose  someone  watches over  all three of them and is  very much AWARE OF HIS OWN SPEED ,listens to their conversation  then he’ll smile and  being aware of his own speed and theirs , he’ll  interpret  the scenario in a broader sense (but not absolute ).  He’ll know that the difference in the views of X,Y and Z’s  and his own  is because of the fact that three of them (X,Y,Z) ARE’NT AWARE  of their OWN speeds whereas he  is .He knows that Y is not fast or slow in an absolute sense but ONLY FASTER  than X and SLOWER than Z ….and that’s the whole point …

                                                                                       
                                                                           ...every single ADJECTIVE   which we ascribe to a person/circumstances  ,in our daily life …fast , slow ,intelligent ,wise, stupid ,clever , clean ,dirty , monstrous ,pathetic ,HEVENLY ,hell-ish ,successful ,failure (this is my personal favorite ) ..are all RELATIVE …and relative to what ?..relative to the person who tags  that adjective to other person . A more beautiful woman finds a not-so-beautiful one ‘ok’ …a more intelligent one finding not-so-smart person “hhmm alright “  .. a manager after making his new recruit perform 100’s of tasks ,writes on in his report  “Good worker “ ,and so forth . Never does the more beautiful woman , more intelligent one or the concerned manager realizes that THEY ,TOO,ARE TAGGED WITH THE SAME ADJECTIVES (and in the same manner ) by THEIR SUPERIOR ONE’S  .(…or maybe they ARE aware of this fact)

     
                 ..I am not saying that  “tagging adjectives “ is wrong …NO ,they are not .Most of the time, it’s a requirement and has to be done .The point I am trying to make here is that how deceptive these adjectives can be IF  TAKEN IN AN ABSOLUTE SENSE …when they are only RELATIVE , defined by two factors ….(shall I say ..hmm).. SPACE  and PERSON himself .(..there is another factor of TIME related to it ..but it’s too complex to explain in this blog-post ..plus I’ve pledged to keep  my posts simple …so I’ll skip the time factor) .

n             --SPACE :: …How many examples have we seen of people  being perceived as “very adj.”  in ONE GEOGRAPHICAL  DOMAIN (say on a regional level )..but on a higher level (say national or global) ,they bomb (..and not in a good fashion) and the adjective attached is ...well…”opposite of  adj.” .Sometimes it happens the other way round (like people “not-so-adj.” on lower level somehow perform well on relatively higher level ...believe me..that happens too) …So, space dependent .

n              --   PERSONAL :: ..I have already discussed  in the previous paragraph that  how  these adjectives are dependent upon  the person who ascribes it to someone.( …some of them even ACT while doing so and are not honest )..so, these are personal too and hence RELATIVE…and cannot be taken in an absolute sense.

                            But , there is a CATCH  here , which ultimately  CATEGORISES  these adjectives (in two parts…as far as I can think )  and how these “relative” truths transgress SPACE and PERSON …even time and stops being “just relative” and takes a UNIVERSAL  “shade” …TOUCHES  the absolute …

…in next post ..                                                  

p.s. ::  .. extension of this post  is delayed due to socio-political reasons .. thanks.