Variable speed of light contribute to the above refractive index, Dicke considered a cosmology where "c" decreased in time, providing an alternative explanation to the cosmological redshift (p. 374). Dicke's theory is compatible with the SI definition of c since the time and length units second and meter can vary in concert, keeping the value of c fixed (p. 366). Spatial variation of the speed of light is implicitly present in general relativity, occurring in the coordinate space description.: "note that the photon speed is ... formula_9." (formula_10 denoting the gravitational potential −"GM"/"r") Based on this observation, variable speed of light models, including Dicke's,
Speed of light (cellular automaton) is because it's impossible to build a spaceship that can move every generation. (This is not true, though, for cellular automata in general; for instance many light-speed spaceships exist in Seeds.) It is, however, possible for objects to travel at the speed of light if they move through a medium other than empty space. Such media include trails of hives, and alternating stripes of live and dead cells. Certain patterns can appear to move at a speed greater than one cell per generation, but like faster than light phenomena in physics this is illusory. An example is the "Star Gate",