Is the world upside down

Answer 1

There are a great many descriptions of physical things that don't have a "real"

value, and they depend on being compared to something else. For example,

take "speed". What's the speed of the book you're reading that's in your lap ?

To you, it's zero. But if you and the book are in a seat on a jet airliner at 35,000

feet, flying along at 400 miles per hour, then your friend on the ground who sees

you says that your book is moving at 400 miles per hour. You and your friend are

both correct, because you're comparing the motion of the book to different things.

There's no such thing as "real" speed. There's only speed compared to something.

There's also no such thing as "real" acceleration, clockwise, counterclockwise,

up, or down, and Albert Einstein showed that there's not even any such things

as real mass, length, time, before, or after.

Without getting into any of those details, the only reason we're going through all

of this is to say that there's no such thing as real right-side-up, or real upside-down.

They're two more things that depend on comparing them to something else.

If you're standing up on your feet in eastern Ecuador, then another person

standing up on his feet in Singapore is definitely upside-down compared to you.

There's no doubt about it: His feet point to your head, and your feet point to his

head. But what's going on here ? Your feet are down and his feet are down too,

and yet each of you swears that the other guy is upside down.

The answer is: There's no such thing as "real" down. "Down" is a different

direction for every person on Earth, and if two people are far enough apart,

then "down" for one of them is exactly the opposite of "down" for the other

person. "Down" is always toward the center of the Earth, because when you

drop something, that's the direction it falls. And if the man in Ecuador and the

one in Singapore drop a couple of stones at the same time, the stones fall in

opposite directions ... each one falls straight toward the other person.

If you try to explain what "upside down" means, it's going to get messy fast.

Somewhere in there, you'll have to tell what you're comparing it to, like maybe

"upside down means the opposite way from how I'mstanding", but then we

could ask: What makes you special ? Maybe you're actually the one who's

upside down.

So now, after all that, we have to throw the original question right back out there.

You ask "Is the world upside down ?", and we insist that in order to decide that,

you have to answer a few other questions first:

1). Where's the 'top' of the world, and where's the 'bottom' ? Compared to what ?

2). 'Upside down' compared to what ?

If you can get those details straightened out, then maybe we'll be able to

discuss the original question.

But maybe not.