Eli5: Why does light travel so fast?
In: 130
Science cannot answer “why?” questions. It is very good at describing how things behave but can’t determine why that behavior exists.
Measurements can capture the behavior of light, and that behavior can be described with the same geometric analysis that describes bending and curvature of surfaces but finding the curving-surface equations to be useful in predicting the behavior of light does not make the curvature exist, just as finding the equations defining kinetic energy doesn’t make kinetic energy exist beyond the usefulness of the equations as an organizing principle for observations of the physical world.
In the same way, alphabetical order does not exist except as an organizing principle for a list of words. When you try to isolate and indicate “alphabetical order” you find that there is nothing there except the relationship of one word to anther under the criterion of an arbitrary pre-arrangement of a set letters.
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