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http://www.bartleby.com/173/22.html
Albert Einstein: "In the second place our result shows that, according
to the general theory of relativity, the law of the constancy of the
velocity of light in vacuo, which constitutes one of the two
fundamental assumptions in the special theory of relativity and to
which we have already frequently referred, cannot claim any unlimited
validity. A curvature of rays of light can only take place when the
velocity of propagation of light varies with position. Now we might
think that as a consequence of this, the special theory of relativity
and with it the whole theory of relativity would be laid in the dust.
But in reality this is not the case. We can only conclude that the
special theory of relativity cannot claim an unlimited domain of
validity; its result hold only so long as we are able to disregard the
influences of gravitational fields on the phenomena (e.g. of light)."

There is a trivial truth Einstein uses in this case: the speed of
light "varies with position" in a gravitational field but, in the
absence of a gravitational field or in a free-falling laboratory, it
does not vary with position and IN THIS SENSE is constant. However
Einstein knows that in Einstein zombie world constancy in any sense
could easily become constancy in the sense of Einstein's 1905 false
light postulate:

http://www.fourmilab.ch/etexts/einstein/specrel/www/
"....light is always propagated in empty space with a definite
velocity c which is independent of the state of motion of the emitting
body."

So Einstein zombie world will never realize that the fact that the
speed of light "varies with position" in a gravitational field implies
that, in the absence of a gravitational field, it does depend on "the
state of motion of the emitting body" and so the 1905 light postulate
is violated. The intimate relationship between Einstein and Einstein
zombie world is nicely expressed by the Cambridge Professor John
Barrow:

http://www.aapps.org/archive/bulletin/vol15/15-5/15_5_p2p3%7F.pdf
John Barrow: "Einstein restored faith in the unintelligibility of
science. Everyone knew that Einstein had done something important in
1905 (and again in 1915) but almost nobody could tell you exactly what
it was. When Einstein was interviewed for a Dutch newspaper in 1921,
he attributed his mass appeal to the mystery of his work for the
ordinary person: "Does it make a silly impression on me, here and
yonder, about my theories of which they cannot understand a word? I
think it is funny and also interesting to observe. I am sure that it
is the mystery of non-understanding that appeals to them...it impresses
them, it has the colour and the appeal of the mysterious."

Pentcho Valev
pvalev@yahoo.com