Verplaatst naar 5.2.2 Western physics was not amused with Einstein's thought experiments. All certainties from the mechanistic world-view of classical Newtonian physics, had to be questioned and important concepts had to be redefined.* But it was mainly thanks to the latitude of the thought experiments that classical physics could now be modified in such a way that not the own course of time of a moving body changes, but that only the course of time with respect can change to another moving body.
This avoidance of reality proved to be possible due to the fact that as the speed of a spaceship changes, its clocks running slower or faster and its space shrinking or extending in the longitudinal direction, the same applies to the passengers on board that spaceship. The travellers will therefore not notice any of these phenomena, because to them it seems that the Earth flies away from them while they do not move. They, however, do observe the same phenomena on staying-behind Earth. Therefore you can regard these phenomena as relative and dependent on the chosen observer.
The time course of bodies themselves can thus remain constant, which is essential for the preservation of Newton Mechanics and thus for the paradigm of Western Physics.
