Copernicus & Einstein

Physics is perhaps the most hated subject in school. The problem is it seems never introduced correctly.

Instead of Newtownian mechanics we could have been introduced to Copernicus, who led the human race out of egocentricity. Before Corpenicus came along, the human race believed the Earth was the center of the universe: Plato, Aristotle and Ptolemy all signed off for the geocentric model. Copernicus puts right that the Sun, not the Earth, is the center of the universe. Now we understand that the other planets in fact do not dance around us. Instead, ours is just another planet. Along with fellow planets we all dance around the sun.

The idea that we are the center of the universe goes down the drain, for the sun is just one of the many starts in our galaxy. And our galaxy is just one of countless galaxies. We are therefore far from being the center of the universe.

Next, the physics curriculum could have introduced Einstein. Einstein puts right that there are no preferred or privileged frames of reference. If A looks at B and finds B weird, B has every reason to find A just as weird, and neither A nor B is more correct.

That is about all of physics one needs to know. As simple as that. Nobody can claim supremacy of any shape or form without violating the natural laws of physics. Far from philosophical talks, these two pieces of physics have been nailed down mathematically and observed empirically. Proven true and universally recognized, these laws of nature would afford us totally different societies and totally different histories. We would stop finding others deranged or deformed. We would stop worrying about what others can or cannot do. We would stop seeing refugees as a problem to be fixed. We would stop looking at disabled people like watching a circus, especially when many of them are more comfortable under the skin than an average person.

Take echolocation, for example. Some who do not see with their eyes are able to find their way indoors and outdoors, up and down stairs, by detecting sound echoes. It is an impressive skill most people do not have. So who are handicap: those who can’t see or those who can’t echolocate? Let us we apply what Einstein tells us to our sensory systems: auditory, gustatory, interoception, olfactory, proprioception, tactile, vestibular, visual. It’s all a matter of relativity. So the standard notion of who is disabled and who isn’t has been quite screwed.