On 10/15/11, Joe Bauman <josephmbauman@yahoo.com> wrote:
It's sort of ridiculous to write that something that travels faster than light in matter doesn't violate Einstein's relativity because Einstein was referring to the speed of light in a vacuum. The fact is, light moves fastest in a vacuum and Einstein was saying nothing can exceed that speed limit, regardless of where it travels. You just can't fudge your way around that speed limit. If it moves faster than light, Einstein is wrong, period.
Not really, even Einstein suspected there was more to it but didn't take it further, for reasons he took to his grave. The quantum physicists tell us that there is no such thing as a perfect vacuum. Particles pop into and out of existence constantly. Can the multi-dimensional instability of a vacuum be discounted, as neutrinos speed through three-dimensional space? None of this bothers me, in fact I'm pretty amused by it all. It's grand theater, and I'm sure the final act will be a crowd pleaser.