6. The "Wrong Turn"
Where did physics go wrong ? It made the assumption of fields being something which represents a space-mediated effect. This means that space is "filled" with something which changes to pass on force. This may have been called the "ether" in the past, since derided, but the fact is that the normal idea of fields *needs* an ether. Relativity is a way of getting around this problem, but does not actually solve the problem.
An alternative the idea of "space mediated forces" and the "ether" is the notion that space is empty, and is populated by physical objects. Space has no properties of its own. This principle was put forward by Demokritos, who believed that the universe comprises two things : atoms (existence) and emptiness (nonexistence).
Aristotle dissagreed with this. He felt :
"How can an object move, if nobody pushes or pulls it ? And to push or pull it, you require a connection. Therefore the universe must be full of subtance. End of story." Z Budrikis - paraphrasing Aristotle
Many Aristotle's ideas were quite insightful, but here is one place where he became unstuck. Demokritos did, after all, say atoms were indivisible and unchanging, and got that a little wrong. But Aristotle's little mistake is one which has persisted for a very long time.
It became the heart of Maxwell's theory. And by persisting with it for too long, physics came up with some * really * strange theories.
Relativity is a theory which claims to see no need for an ether. General Relativity posits that space is filled with something called "spacetime", so it obviously ended up needing an ether at the end of it all anyway.
Physics based on Ritzian principles does not require an ether. The only thing which is relevant are the relative distances, velocities and accelerations of different particles participating in the system. Their motion with respect to any arbitrary "universal" frame of reference is not relevant.
Ritzian principles do require uniform space and time, uniform space allowing the measurement of distances between particles participating in the system. Of course, Einstein uses a similar principle when determining the velocity of interacting reference frames with respect to each other - this does require uniform "measurable" space.
Next :7. Faster Than Light Travel Under Ritzian Physics