*A note from Sam:
I usually stick pretty hard with my idea of everything on my website is mine. It makes for less messy copyright and I think sources should not only be listed but actively acknowledged, which is why I provide links instead of photos. However there is an exception to everything, and here is one. I was fortunate enough to meet Scott M. Tyson in person at GalaxyFest, and was inspired to write Heavier Thoughts on Gravity, a follow up to The Gravity of the Situation, which I had written just days prior to meeting Mr. Tyson. Mr Tyson was kind enough to provide me with this article to help explain his theory. I hope you enjoy it.
Also I was fortunate enough to have a comment on The Gravity of the Situation left by a physics professor, so if you are interested you should go back and check that out. I bumped a copy of the comment up into the post.
On The Matter Of Mass by Scott M. Tyson
I recently released The Unobservable Universe: A Paradox-Free Framework for Understanding the Universe (Galaxia Way, 2011). The book provides a new but thoroughly scientific framework by which to understand all physical phenomenon within the universe and to banish those pesky paradoxes with which humanity, and most notably science, have been grappling in some cases for thousands of years. It’s the culmination of nearly 35 years of research and thought experiments to unify the fundamental forces and to overcome the disparities between quantum physics and relativity to reveal the underlying Theory of Everything in an entertaining, humorous format for general readers of the cosmology and science philosophy genres.
Based on the research presented in my book and backed up by empirical evidence, the good news is that they universe may very well be understandable by the rather simple and straightforward theory I present in my book. On the other hand, the bad news is that the universe does not appear to operate in a way that even remotely resembles what current and narrow cosmological doctrine and today’s most popular scientists might lead you to think.
Despite the awesomely high regard I hold for Einstein, it now appears to me that Einstein’s thoughts about gravity and his theory of gravitation missed the mark. Einstein, like so many other scientists that followed him, believed that mass was a property of matter and that gravity arises as a consequence of matter’s mass. It appears to me that Einstein beautifully, elegantly, and accurately described the mathematical relationship among the phenomena set of mass, gravity, and acceleration in his special theory of relativity which he published in 1925. These relationships are faithfully captured in his field equations.
Yet, it now appears to me that Einstein flawlessly inverted the cause and effect relationship between matter, mass, and gravity. He did it in such a way that his field equations remain completely intact even though our understanding of gravity would need to be revised in sweeping ways.
For nearly the past 100 years now, scientists have inadvertently embraced the notion that mass is a property of matter despite the simple fact that thousands of years of science, philosophy, and measurements have soundly failed to establish any empirical basis to support the notion. Let me repeat that statement: the assumption that mass is a property of matter has no empirical basis whatsoever even though the assumption is soundly embraced as scientific truth.
Based upon the theory I present in my book, and for which I provide a sound empirical basis, I propose that mass is NOT a property of matter. Rather, I submit that mass is a property of space and precedes the emergence of particles of matter, as well as the resulting observational relationship based upon determinate electromagnetic states by which we define objective reality. The consequences of this realization are staggering and the impact upon prevailing cosmological models, if correct, will likely be rather dramatic.
Yet, the mistaken notion that mass is a property of matter is only one of three errors of modern science that I expose and discuss in my book. Together, the identification and correction of these three errors appear to underlie all of the paradoxes involving our universe emerging from today’s science. Once corrected, the single formula underlying all physical phenomena is no longer obscured and an entirely new understanding of the universe is revealed.
Link to the book’s page on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/The-