Does my explanation of relativity have any validity?

Question

I've been trying to explain relativity to myself by developing a model based upon small finite changes along one dimension.

For me, as a computer programmer, this model works well as an explanation of why time goes slower when an object moves away from another and comes back. (see example 3 in the spreadsheet). Each "atom" counts time as the number of movements to the right and left.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1PL-aRssPO6J7755yWrWsW4o8gFVjsMQjTSZ4-R-Jt04/edit?usp=sharing

Does my "explanation" have any validity? I'm not saying its the truth of what is going on, but does it work as an explanation for what is going on? Is it at all consistent with relativity?

I'm a computer programmer, I see the world through the lens of finite automata. As I vaguely understand, relativity predicts what people observe, but I'm trying to build a model from somthing that would work in a computer as my thinking comes from that direction.

Answer 1

Does my "explanation" have any validity? I'm not saying its the truth of what is going on, but does it work as an explanation for what is going on? Is it at all consistent with relativity?

I'll be blunt: The answer is no. Your approach has a number of flaws in it. One big problem is your rules for motion. That a particle must always be in motion goes against a key concept in relativity, that the laws of physics are the same in all inertial frames of reference. That includes a frame in which an object is not moving. This is the frame in which proper time is measured. Understanding proper time and coordinate time are key to understanding relativity.

Another flaw is that you haven't accounted for the speed of light being the same to all observers. This, along with the laws of physics being the same in all inertial frames, is central to relativity theory. A third flaw is how you model time. You are creating an absolute frame of reference with your model. This runs very much against the grain of relativity theory, where there is no absolute frame of reference.

Here's an example where you model falls apart. Suppose two people, call them A and B, are moving away from one another at a constant velocity, and that the two people regularly send time tagged messages to one another. Those time tags can be used a mechanism for the rate at which the other person's clock is ticking. First we need to remove the effects of messages traveling an ever increasing distance as the people get further and further apart over time. What relativity says is that person A will claim that B's clock is running slow, but that person B will claim that it's A's clock that is running slow. This is also the case if A and B are approaching one another rather than moving away from one another. Both A and B perceive the other person's clock as running slow.