Quote:
Originally Posted by renormalised
Even illusions can have real effects, if the causes of those illusions have properties which are based in physical reality. Take a mirage, for instance. Refraction of light caused by a hot layer of air just above the ground, magnifying a distant mountain range and making it appear closer than it actually is...or even distorting the image of an object till it appears something it isn't. Very real physical effects, nothing but illusions seen.
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Analogies don't make good scientific arguments.
Let's go back to your original statement.
Quote:
Originally Posted by renormalised
I didn't accept infinite mass in my argument except as a postulate of SR. When I mention an infinite mass or energy, it's in relation to SR postulates.
If rest mass is constant (invariant), and it's only the relativistic mass which becomes infinite, then any mass increase is nothing more than "relative" and therefore is a perspective illusion based on one's PoV. It's an apparent mass based on the addition of energy of motion (KE), not the real or proper mass of the system. It means that whilst it has measurable physical effects and can be confirmed by experiment, it's still nothing less than an illusion and that we don't really understand what we're looking at.
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Unfortunately you just can't pick and choose what's real and what's an illusion. Why should the energy contribution from mass be considered "more real" than the KE.
In fact your line of reasoning contradicts the conservation of relativistic mass.
Regards
Steven