30 December 1998 - Mach’s Principle

“Imagine that you are the only object in an otherwise empty universe, sort of like Jacques Lacan. What’s your position? Are you going anywhere? With nothing in the universe to serve as a reference point, the questions are meaningless.

“Now imagine that you throw something out there, like say a big book of theories that you aren’t going to need in an empty universe. You and your theories are moving apart, but are you going anywhere? Not really, there isn’t anywhere to go. That’s the idea behind Mach’s Principle: your position and movement are meaningful only in the context of the rest of the world.”