Astronomy / Space Space is illogical

I mean: I should be able to answer that with a clock and a rocket, yes? Keep looking for which direction makes time faster until it doesn't any more?

I don't know if this is helpful. They synchronised 2 atomics clocks, put one on a plane and flew it around the world. When it came back they were desynced. The GPS satellites floating around our planet need their clocks resynced daily with earth clocks because they keep going out of sync.
 
Except that "still" and "moving" are equally impossible.
I would not say impossible, but linear movement and being stationary is - without a frame of reference - not distinguishable and therefore the same thing. In Einsteins universe, absolute linear movement does not exist. And because of that:

Simple question. How fast and in what direction is the Earth moving?
...relative to what?

I mean: I should be able to answer that with a clock and a rocket, yes? Keep looking for which direction makes time faster until it doesn't any more?
No. But I think you are starting to mix things up. Special relativity describes what happens to an observed reference frame from the observer point of view under relativistic speeds. Special relativity only includes linear movement. General relativity includes accelerated movement as well but is a lot more complex.

To reach a relativistic equilibrium while accelerating, I should be accelerating 9.81 m/s^2 to the observer back on earth, who is accelerating at the same speed as the result of gravitational pull (or should I say SpaceTime push :rolleyes: ).

But we can't (no special frames); so something important is missing from this picture.
Yes we can't and no there is nothing missing. You said it yourself:

It seems like the whole point of special relativity is that you can look at any given thing as stationary and be right.
This^ is indeed the whole point (of special relativity), without a (third, or 'special' in your words) frame of reference that is. If we are both moving away from each other at 0.4 C, than I can say I am stationary and you are moving at 0.8 C and the other way around, and we would both be right. I see your time getting delated and you'll see mine getting delated.

If you want more, you're going to need general relativity.
 
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careBear1

Banned
That may have to do as much with their location in the gravity well as with relative movement. But that brings me back to my question. Wouldn't *both* people see the other person as having slower time than they do? With no special frame: who is to say who flew away from and came back to whom? - - - - - Additional Content Posted / Auto Merge - - - - -
Yes gravity (warping of spacetime) is a contributor to the effect - it slightly counteracts the slowdown. Think of the distance (perspective) analogy, which are brains are familiar with: if we are separated by a long distance, then I seem small to you and you seem small to me, not bigger. No mystery, just common sense? As I hinted: monkey brain not evolved to perceive spacetime.
 

careBear1

Banned
Counteracts? Don't you mean the other way around? Gravitation slows down time.
Gravity is lower for clocks on the satellite compared to clocks on earth. Clocks on the satellite cllick faster as a consequence, counteracting the slow down due to their speed.
 
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Gravity is lower for clocks on the satellite compared to clocks on earth. Clocks on the satellite cllick faster as a consequence, counteracting the slow down due to their speed.
Not speed. No special frames.

So X's speed relative to Y, and Y's speed relative to X must be the same.

Unless you want to say that both go slower than the other.
 

careBear1

Banned
Not speed. No special frames. So X's speed relative to Y, and Y's speed relative to X must be the same. Unless you want to say that both go slower than the other.
Agree that no special frame of reference - obviously. But the satellite’s path through spacetime is different to that taken by clocks on earth, with more of its travel through space and less through time. Classical Einstein explanation someone posted earlier (updated to use laser-light bouncing between mirrors) shows that viewed from earth the ticks of the clock on the satellite (moving relative to the earth frame of reference) will be ‘longer’. Not sure I understand the point you are making. Approaching a century of evidence supports time dilation/length contraction due to relative motion. I guess you are taking issue with my rather loose explanation, but I cannot quite grasp your point - sorry. EDIT: Agree that every observer will see a moving clock ticking slower than theirs. Which I mentioned earlier, as a distance analogy: if we are a long distance apart, I seem small to you and you seem small to me, not bigger.
 
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Space is illogical when you try to take in the pseudoscience that has masqueraded as cosmology for the past decades.

Here's a good starter:
[video=youtube;IFFl9S39CTM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFFl9S39CTM[/video]
 
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