Why the observer is immaterial
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This paper examines the ontological nature of the observer in Special Relativity. In the visual field of a stationary observer, light overtakes an external moving material object at an effective separation speed of c − v. However, relative to the observer's own frame of observation, light can never be measured at c − v; it remains strictly invariant at the limiting speed c, regardless of motion. To preserve this invariant relation, physical lengths contract and temporal intervals dilate around the observation point. From this asymmetry, the paper deduces that the observing function does not participate in physical drift, establishing the conscious observer not as a material particle within the physical stream, but as a foundational, non-material reference center around which spacetime geometry dynamically configures.
Author: Vergucht, Maarten
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7208831230
FWCI:
Cites:
Cited by:
Related to: