🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <3NOV199212323281@csa2.lbl.gov> sichase@csa2.lbl.gov (SCOTT I CHASE) writes:
>It is entirely within the realm of possibility that, for example, some
>future TOE, which unifies EW, Strong, and Gravitational forces will suggest
>a reason for the value of the speed of light.  As a matter of fact, many 
>people suspect that an ultimate theory would in fact explain all the 
>numbers which appear only as parameters in the Standard Model, such as the
>value of the electronic charge, the various mixing angles, masses, CP-violating
>phase, etc.  

Hmm.  I don't buy this, at least not without further explanation.
One needs a system of units to measure the speed of light (unlike
dimensionless mixing angles and mass *ratios*).  Unless one finds
a system of units that is as "natural" as that in which hbar, c,
and G are equal to 1, one might as well simply say that the speed of light
is 1.  

Of course it could be possible that a TOE could explain the ratio of the
speed of light to the speed of sound in air at room temperature and
pressure.  Whether you want to call this "explaining the speed of light" 
or "explaining the speed of sound" is a matter of taste, but since sound
is a much more complicated phenomenon than light, I would call it 
"explaining the speed of sound".