A river model of space · HackerPapers discussions

A river model of space — mentioned by raattgift

Sun, 06 Jul 2025 11:14:33 GMT

The "river model" you mean isn't very general, as one eventually becomes interested gravitating systems where there isn't a suitable congruence, e.g. in close binary compact objects. In such systems, one has to add terms analogous to turbulence, frustrating calculability (and the development of relativistic intuition). It also doesn't deal well with tides: for example, Schwarzschild infaller worldlines (even on a body like the moon, where there is no horizon) on widely separated radial trajectories converge in a way that is unlike the confluences of rivers and their tributaries. These models…

Paper and discussion history. A mention is not an endorsement.

A river model of space — mentioned by fargolime

Thu, 25 Jul 2013 18:03:45 GMT

Keep in mind these descriptions are just interpretations of observations. Another intelligent civilization could explain the observations in a wholly different way. The observations show that light is affected by gravity (more precisely, by centers of gravitational attraction) the same as material objects are. We have alternate generally accepted ways of looking at this, such as the river model of space [1], where space is moving inward toward a center of gravitational attraction, carrying along in its "current" everything including light rays. [1] http://arxiv.org/abs/1204.0419

Paper and discussion history. A mention is not an endorsement.