We all move at the Speed of Light
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN commenters recommend it as a helpful way to conceptualize why light speed is a limit.
What it is
ScienceClic explains why nothing can go faster than light by treating motion through space and time together, so everything moves at the speed of light through spacetime. It uses animated visuals to cover relativity basics in 12 minutes.
Recommended by 2 HN commenters across 2 different months, 2020 to 2024.
What Hacker News said
Recommends danparsonson · 2021-07 · on “Positive Energy Warp Drive from Hidden Geometric Structures”
Try this: [this video] c isn't defined as the speed of light - light travels at c, but so does everything else, when you factor in movement through time.
Recommends keithnz · 2021-08 · on “Very fast rocket”
you can't go faster. I know a lot of people find this video helpful in conceptualizing things. [this video]
Cites karmakaze · 2020-11 · on “A Spacetime Surprise: Time Isn’t Just Another Dimension”
An interesting journey describing spacetime. > you can’t put space (which is a measurement of distance) and time (which is a measurement of, well, time) on the same footing without some way to convert one to the other. This idea about 'equal footing' is really a hazy way of asking if these dimensions can be considered 'independent', which the article then describes as being interdependent. > The key idea is that we’re all moving through the Universe, through both space and time, simultaneously. If we’re simply sitting here, stationary, and not moving through space at all, then we move through time at a very specific rate at which we’re all familiar: one second per second. This second/second
Cites itishappy · 2024-10 · on “Time is a dimension, but not like space”
I've heard this described as "we all move at the speed of light." Also, since another way to describe alignment of two vectors is an angle, motion can be characterized by the angle it makes with the time axis. [this video]