# #60 A Short and Sweet Intro to Relativity - Dan Linford Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-uncertainty-podcast-7089022/60-a-short-and-sweet-intro-to-relativity-dan-linford Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-uncertainty-podcast-7089022/60-a-short-and-sweet-intro-to-relativity-dan-linford.md Podcast: [The Uncertainty Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-uncertainty-podcast-7089022) Published: 2025-11-27T19:30:00+00:00 Episode link: https://mileskdonahue.substack.com/p/60-dan-linford-defending-einstein-e16 Audio file: https://api.substack.com/feed/podcast/183154419/6491709eefbe199bd75eaee336177c38.mp3 Processing state: not_requested JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-uncertainty-podcast-7089022/episodes/60-a-short-and-sweet-intro-to-relativity-dan-linford Duration seconds: 4910 ## Resource Dr. Dan Linford breaks down Einstein's theory of special relativity, its consequences for our understanding of time, and whether there are any ways to reconcile relativity with the view that past events are no longer real, and future events are not yet real. In particular, he examines William Lane Craig's attempt to rehabilitate a neo-Lorentzian theory of relativity. To support the channel, do please oh please consider donating via⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠PayPal⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Buy Me a Coffee⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ . Feel free to follow me ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Twitter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ . EPISODE CHAPTERS 00:00:00 Introduction 00:00:10 What is special relativity? 00:11:30 Of trains and absolute simultaneity 00:15:31 Time dilation and length contraction 00:25:08 Three "interpretations" of special relativity 00:27:14 Theory #1 - Einsteinian relativity 00:29:11 Theory #2 - Minkowskian relativity 00:35:11 Theory #3 - neo-Lorentzian relativity 00:47:09 What do physicists think of neo-Lorentzian relativity? 00:59:50 Can we integrate special relativity with presentism? 01:10:06 Neo-Lorentzianism applied to cosmology Get full access to Miles K. Donahue at mileskdonahue.substack.com/subscribe ## Actions - request_transcript: `POST https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-uncertainty-podcast-7089022/episodes/60-a-short-and-sweet-intro-to-relativity-dan-linford/transcription-requests` — Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode. - read_markdown: `GET https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-uncertainty-podcast-7089022/60-a-short-and-sweet-intro-to-relativity-dan-linford.md` — Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource. A page view does not enqueue transcription. Agents should invoke `request_transcript` explicitly when they need this episode processed. ## Transcript Full transcripts are not published on public pages unless there is a clear rights basis.