Assuming away stray electrons is therefore OK in this particular thought experiment, since the assumption of a universe that would provide an endless completely obstacle-free path would still be consistent with special relativity.
Of course it is OK. But since it was unspecified it was a whole lot more interesting to imagine the effects of a cataclysmic collision with arbitrarily large energy. (Because any discussion of a question of consciousness that goes for more than 3 paragraphs before dissolving the question or finding an interesting tangent is at least two and a half paragraphs too long!)
Now I’m wondering whether such a collision would release enough light to obliterate Earth from an arbitrarily large (but within light cone) distance away. I’m thinking it would.
Of course it is OK. But since it was unspecified it was a whole lot more interesting to imagine the effects of a cataclysmic collision with arbitrarily large energy. (Because any discussion of a question of consciousness that goes for more than 3 paragraphs before dissolving the question or finding an interesting tangent is at least two and a half paragraphs too long!)
Now I’m wondering whether such a collision would release enough light to obliterate Earth from an arbitrarily large (but within light cone) distance away. I’m thinking it would.