[ExI] Gravity waves?

[Ben]

John Clark <johnkclark at gmail.com> wrote:

 >On Thu, Mar 20, 2014 at 10:21 AM, Ben <bbenzai at yahoo.com> wrote:

 >> Shouldn't this be "gravity waves have been inferred from the detection
 >> of variations of the polarisation...", or "variations in the 
polarisation
 >> of microwave radiation is consistent with the existence of gravity
 >> waves...", etc.?
 >>
 >
 >How is that fundamentally different from "electromagnetic light waves have
 >been inferred from the chemical changes made in the retina of our eye" ?

The difference is the degree of separation between the thing and the 
observer.  The more steps there are, the more uncertainty there is about 
what is causing the result.  There's a difference between a brick 
falling on your foot, and you reading a message where someone claims 
that a friend of a friend suffered a brick to the foot. There are fewer 
possible interpretations for one than for the other, and a different 
degree of certainty about the existence of the brick.

Observations of polarisation of microwaves is detection of gravity waves 
in the same sense that observation of blonde hairs on a lapel is 
detection of a cheating husband.

Ben Zaiboc