# What if spacetime were a kind of fluid? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 23, 2014, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-spacetime-were-a-kind-of-fluid/686772 "2014-04-23T14:59:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 17
**Author:** ![mpc755](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mpc755/32/7307_2.png) [@mpc755](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mpc755)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-spacetime-were-a-kind-of-fluid/686772/321 "2014-05-01T17:21:01Z")
> [@Strinka](#): > > Einstein was brilliant, but he was not omniscient. He made mistakes, and simply restating a quote doesn’t address an argument that that quote was wrong. > > Here, I’ll restate the argument Trinopus gave. Water waves come in two types: surface waves and compression waves. Surface waves require a place where the medium is not. Surface waves on water go up into the air, where there was not water before. You claim the aether fills the entire universe, so there is no surface for it to wave against. You also claim that the aether is incompressible, so it can’t have a compression wave either. So, how exactly does the aether wave, and how is that analogous to a water wave? It is now understood dark matter fills ‘empty’ space. It is also understood when galaxy clusters collide they create a ripple in the dark matter. This ripple is an aether displacement wave. This ripple is a gravitational wave. > [@](#): > > And here, I’ll throw in a second argument at no addition price. Waves, at least normal non-aether waves, carry energy. When a boat moves through water, the energy for that wave comes from the motion of the boat. That slows the boat down, and without something pushing the boat forward, it will eventually come to rest, relative to the water it’s moving through. You claim that objects moving through the aether make waves, but that the objects don’t slow down. So where does the energy for the aether waves come from? Or do aether waves not carry energy? Either way, it’s a big difference from the way water waves work. A boat has a bow wave. A surfer rides the ocean wave. A particle moving through the aether displaces the aether. This is the boat has a bow wave part. As the aether fills-in where the particle had been the aether displaces the particle. This is the surfer rides an ocean wave part. In the following video the particle creates its own wave which pushes it along and guides it. ‘The pilot-wave dynamics of walking droplets’ [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/nmC0ygr08tE/hqdefault.jpg "The pilot-wave dynamics of walking droplets") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmC0ygr08tE) ---
**Author:** ![mpc755](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mpc755/32/7307_2.png) [@mpc755](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mpc755)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-spacetime-were-a-kind-of-fluid/686772/322 "2014-05-01T17:28:45Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > Mainstream physics has data and detailed, well worked-out models; nobody says it’s the end of the story, but so far, nearly every observation we’ve made is in perfect agreement with the models. You have a bunch of bald assertions and vague analogies you refuse to imbue with any content, plus a heap of confusion about the ‘mainstream physics’ you so readily criticize. > > What, for instance, does ‘anchored to matter’ mean? Dark matter is generally thought to interact gravitationally with normal matter, like normal matter does with normal matter; it simply doesn’t participate in the other fundamental interactions, that’s all. Not that I still expect any answers to straightforward questions out of you. The Milky Way’s halo is thought to be a clump of dark matter traveling with the Milky Way. This is incorrect. The matter the Milky Way consists of is moving through and displacing the mass which fills ‘empty’ space. The matter the Milky Way consists of is moving through and displacing the aether. The Milky Way’s halo is the state of displacement of the aether. The Milky Way’s halo is curved spacetime. What is referred to geometrically as curved spacetime physically exists in nature as the state of displacement of the aether. The state of displacement of the aether _is_ gravity. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-spacetime-were-a-kind-of-fluid/686772/323 "2014-05-01T17:47:59Z")
I now count TEN times, mpc755, that you’ve presented the “The Milky Way’s halo is curved spacetime.” argument in this thread without ever attempting to actually address the debate. This thread is closed. Your posting privileges will be discussed. Should you continue to be a poster here at the SDMB, I encourage you to join in many and varied discussions. But should you repeat your behavior here, or interject your arguments about aether into other threads, you will certainly be banned. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-if-spacetime-were-a-kind-of-fluid/686772.md?page=16)