May 21, 2025 01:50 AM
Years ago (2011), I encountered Brian Greene or somebody talking about this in a PBS documentary series -- though a name wasn't mentioned for it. Also, even earlier than that, in a 2003 NYT article titled "The Time We Thought We Knew", he sort of grazed the subject. And I read Penrose's book, too, but it likewise got lost in memory clutter.
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SABINE HOSSENFELDER
https://youtu.be/i7Rx6ePSFdk
VIDEO INTRO (excerpts): I recently learned about the Andromeda Paradox, a real effect in Einstein’s relativity. I didn’t understand it. And that really annoyed me. Let me play you the clip that confused me so much. It’s from a recent Startalk episode with astrophysicist Hakeem Oluseyi:
Then again, relativity has this way of messing with your brain. And when I looked up the Andromeda Paradox, it turned out that it originally came from Roger Penrose. Who, I think, understands Einstein’s theories better than Einstein himself.
So now I wasn’t just annoyed at myself for not understanding this paradox, but also embarrassed, because I thought I’d read Penrose’s books. But let’s look at exactly what Penrose said, or rather wrote. This is from his 1989 book “The Emperor’s New Mind”...
The Andromeda Paradox Even Confuses Physicists ... https://youtu.be/i7Rx6ePSFdk
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SABINE HOSSENFELDER
https://youtu.be/i7Rx6ePSFdk
VIDEO INTRO (excerpts): I recently learned about the Andromeda Paradox, a real effect in Einstein’s relativity. I didn’t understand it. And that really annoyed me. Let me play you the clip that confused me so much. It’s from a recent Startalk episode with astrophysicist Hakeem Oluseyi:
“What is the Andromeda Paradox? Well, the Andromeda Paradox is the fact that if you and I are looking at Andromeda then what happens is suppose you're sitting in your chair, and I'm running by and at the second I run by we both look up at Andromeda. Because I'm moving, and you’re stationary, we're going to see events that are days apart, even though we're in the same location, looking at the same time..."
Did you see how confused Neil deGrasse Tyson looks? That was exactly my reaction, too. Like, this can’t possibly be true, right? This doesn’t make any sense.Then again, relativity has this way of messing with your brain. And when I looked up the Andromeda Paradox, it turned out that it originally came from Roger Penrose. Who, I think, understands Einstein’s theories better than Einstein himself.
So now I wasn’t just annoyed at myself for not understanding this paradox, but also embarrassed, because I thought I’d read Penrose’s books. But let’s look at exactly what Penrose said, or rather wrote. This is from his 1989 book “The Emperor’s New Mind”...
The Andromeda Paradox Even Confuses Physicists ... https://youtu.be/i7Rx6ePSFdk