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<blockquote data-quote="Umbran" data-source="post: 2472310" data-attributes="member: 177">Ultimately if you say, &quot;The speed of light is C&quot; and &quot;The scaling factor between time and space dimensions is C&quot;, you say the same thing in different words.&nbsp; All that's happening above is a linguistic coordinate transformation - it gives you no further information, so it isn't really any deeper.&nbsp; And, as you say, it doesn't get you any closer to why c has the value it does.&nbsp; That's still a mystery.It isn't certain at all.&nbsp; In fact, with most of the basic constants, if they vary even a small amount from what they are in our Universe, chemicals as we know them cease to exist - if the nuclear couplings vary, stable atomic nuclei don't form.&nbsp; If the electromagnetic coupling is just a bit stronger, electrons go tumbling into the nuclei, a bit weaker, and the electrons go flying off on their own.This is something often referred to as the &quot;(weak) Anthropic Principle&quot;.&nbsp; In effect - of course we see the Universe with the constants it has - if it had other constants, we would not be able to exist to see the Universe.&nbsp;&nbsp; The argument is then that there is no special reason behind the constants being what they are - they may not be chosen by any mechanism.&nbsp; We see this particular combination because it's the only combination compatible with our existance.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Umbran, post: 2472310, member: 177"] Ultimately if you say, "The speed of light is C" and "The scaling factor between time and space dimensions is C", you say [i]the same thing in different words[/i]. All that's happening above is a linguistic coordinate transformation - it gives you no further information, so it isn't really any deeper. And, as you say, it doesn't get you any closer to [i]why[/i] c has the value it does. That's still a mystery. It isn't certain at all. In fact, with most of the basic constants, if they vary even a small amount from what they are in our Universe, chemicals as we know them cease to exist - if the nuclear couplings vary, stable atomic nuclei don't form. If the electromagnetic coupling is just a bit stronger, electrons go tumbling into the nuclei, a bit weaker, and the electrons go flying off on their own. This is something often referred to as the "(weak) Anthropic Principle". In effect - of course we see the Universe with the constants it has - if it had other constants, we would not be able to exist to see the Universe. The argument is then that there is no special reason behind the constants being what they are - they may not be chosen by any mechanism. We see this particular combination because it's the only combination compatible with our existance. [/QUOTE]

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