asprung

The tree may look higher but it is not higher.We seem to be talking about how things look to diffrent observers not how they are. There would be a contradiction between a flat spaceman and one that has not become flat.

So how can the other frames be other than illusions.

No one has explaned how he can really become flat and live. Does he die in certain refrence planes and live in others ? He only exsts "now" but the answers would suggest he exsits in several diffrent states "now".

If he were flat he should be dead. If he is not we must conclude that he is as he is in his time frame and only appears different in others.

I would think that the space traveler’s time frame would determine weather there was any structural change as opposed to a measurement change as that is the time frame he is in. While he may appear flat to certain observers he is really not so as to harm him physically. I get confused and can only conclude that it is always “now” and things are as they are “now”

If there is no structual change it really does not happen. Only measurments change. On the other hand I have been told above that the shape actually distorts.

Is there a structureal change or only the illusion of a structual change to certain observeres.

How can there be an actual physical change yet no change at all? Even if the process is reversed the change had occured and cannot be erased.

I have been told the the length of the molecules and the size of the spaces between them actually shortens. This is an event, not a measurment,which should be viewed by all observers when it occurs, though they may differ as to the time.

What would seem constant is the passage of the present- "now"- into the future becoming the past. It seems that time can be diffrent for diffrent observers during this canstant passage. The speed of "now" must be at least the speed of light so that light does not run ahead into the future.

If he were facing in the direction of travel would he not become flat no matter what the frame of refrence. His width would shorten while his other measurements should not. By "width" I meant from his front to back.

Great I am no longer confused. Thank you all very much. asprung

Do you mean that all the events that occur for the earth twin up through the year 2050 are occuring for the space twin as if he was experencing the same now as the as the earth twin.

I only said it once but some how it downloaded 4 times. Whats in error? How can an event that first occured in the year 2050 have occcured while the space traveler is still in the year 2000 irrespective of rate?

As I see it, time is a succesion of the occurence of events. Once an event has occured it cannot be erased or altered. The space twin whose time has slowed compared to earths will not as yet have experenced certain events which have occured on earth. His future must thus be predetermined or he would have the ability to rewrite earths history.

If the space travelers is length contracted his body would become distorted. I dont know why I cant ask if this really happens. He only has one body,and something really happens to it or doesnt.

It seems that when the twins meet there must be one date of their meeting. What is it? In the year 2000, or the year 2050? The space twin had not yet arrive at the year 2050,while the earth twin had long passed the year 2000.

The space twin is in his year 2000. He starts to drift in outer space. The earth twin is in his year 2050. He takes off in a sister ship and docks with the space twins ship in outer space. The twins meet in an air lock between the ships. Does the earth twin fall back to the year 2000, or does the space twin jump to the year 2050? ,

Do the molecules, the space between them, Etc. really become smaller or merely appear to. It’s hard to conceive of molecules etc. becoming smaller in one direction which would change as the space traveler moves around. It should be rough on his body.

What you are saying is that the space between the molecules is really diminished but only for the observer not for him. How can that be? He only has one body. If this space is diminished but only in length his body would become distorted doing who knows what damage to him.

Is the space traveler's body physically compressed in length or is this an illusion from the observers frame. I do not see how the space traveler can be standing at his full height and at the same time be compressed. He only has one body.

I am confused. If the space traveler's length in the direction of travel would diminish and his mass would not decrease then his body density would, which should kill him. Yet in his own frame none of this really happens. Does it or doesn’t it.

As time slows down as a body approaches the speed of light and its length shortens does its other dimensions also change? How would this effect a space traveler whose mass should not change?

The universe only exsits "now" the past has become its history and the future has yet to come.

Do I understand that we all share common points of transition from past toward future while our rates of passage through time my differ ?