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Related to my prior question: Would it be possible to develop special relativity without knowing about light?

Imagine a species insensate to light and other em radiation. They are very attuned to sound however. Might they conclude that any transmission of information faster than sound violated causality? For example, a bullet impacts a person, then a second later they hear the sound. Might this situation suggest to such a species that causation had been violated?

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Richardbernstein
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No, because it is possible for objects to travel through air (or water) faster than the local speed of sound in the air or water. The second they observed a shock wave or a sonic boom, they could start developing a physics of faster-than-sound travel.

Meanwhile, special relativity could be developed solely from a complete knowledge of electricity and magnetism without directly observing light.

Zo the Relativist
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