Calling c the "speed of light" completely misses the point. Rather,...
Jonathan Gorard@getjonwithit
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Jun 01, 2025
~1 min read
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Calling c the "speed of light" completely misses the point. Rather, c is the "spacetime exchange rate": how many units of space you can exchange for one unit of time.
In actuality, everything travels at the "speed of light", just not necessarily through space alone... (1/4)
In actuality, everything travels at the "speed of light", just not necessarily through space alone... (1/4)
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Rather, everything travels through both space *and* time, simultaneously, with a speed of c. If you're standing still, then all of your velocity is focused in the time direction (with none in the space directions), so you move through time with a speed of c. (2/4)
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If you start moving, then now a little bit of your velocity vector points in one of the space directions, so a little bit less must point in the time direction. So you move through time slightly slower than c, such that your overall speed through space *and* time remains c. (3/4)
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Light is distinctive only insomuch as it (like any massless particle) experiences no time, so all of its velocity vector points in the space directions, and therefore it moves with a purely *spatial* speed of c.
c is merely the conversion factor between space and time. (4/4)
c is merely the conversion factor between space and time. (4/4)
