From: mlfasf@comcast.net   
      
   On 3/19/22 12:27 PM, Tom Roberts wrote:   
   >   
   > Observation implies a physical quantity is being observed. Simultaneity   
   > at different spatial points is not any kind of physical quantity, it is   
   > a CONVENTION based on the time coordinate of a particular inertial   
   > frame   
   >   
      
   Tom, what is your "take" on the use of an array of clocks, stationary in   
   some inertial frame, that have been synchronized using only the   
   assumption that the speed of light is equal to the universal constant   
   "c" in that frame.  Each of those clocks is attended by a human "helper   
   friend" (HF), who can observe his immediate local surroundings.  Another   
   particular observer (whom I'll refer to as "he"), also stationary in   
   that inertial frame, wants to know (when his watch shows time tau) the   
   current reading on a particular distant clock which is NOT stationary   
   with respect to that array of clocks.  It seems reasonable that he is   
   entitled to say that the current reading on that distant clock is what   
   the HF, who happens to be colocated with that distant clock at the   
   instant when the HF's clock reads tau, directly observes it to be.   
   Doesn't that convey a sense of "meaningfulness", to the observers who   
   are stationary in that frame?  I think Einstein thought it does.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)