5*2=14, bats are birds, and the anisotropic synchrony convention

A short thread on a solution to the distant starlight problem:

Maybe the universe thousands AND billions of years old?

The anisotropic synchrony convention (ASC) is a relativity-based solution to the distant starlight problem.

I couldn't hope to explain it in a tweet, but it abandons Einstein's *convention* for determining simultaneity.

I emphasize *convention* because due to the nature of the speed of light and observation, we have a diverse variety of legitimate mathematical approaches to analyzing observations from different points of view.

Thus, the "relative" in "relativity."

The ASC seemingly makes the case for understanding distant starlight to be 6,000 years old from a uniquely Earth-centered point of view.

The apologetic is that the Bible speaks from this point of view, and is therefore technically correct.

A different choice in convention can give the false appearance of differing answers - for example,
5*2=10
Is true in base 10, where there is a one in the tens place.
5*2=14
Is true in base 6, where there is a one in the sixes place and a four in the ones place.

Similarly, a bat is a mammal if you classify animals according to their phylogenetic characteristics, but it could be a bird if you organize creatures according to their habitat and how they move. I think Christians understand that "whales are fish" is archaic, not erroneous.

If we accept the ASC's validation of Biblical dates *as a matter of convention,* then old- and young-earthers no longer have a substantive difference (regarding starlight). Both ages are valid within their own convention. Neither one is *wrong.*

In addition, the old-earther is not required to use ASC for their age of the earth any more than they are required to use biblical categories of animals. They can continue to report billions of years of astronomical history; they just can't call the Bible "wrong" for using ASC.

However, if the YEC insists that 6,000 vs billions is *not* a matter of convention, but is in fact an objective, absolute error, then ASC is not an available solution to the distant starlight problem.