Einstein

Of course, Einstein demonstrated a kind of connectedness, a primordiality of the "and".  Space and time are no longer completely independent characteristics of the universe.  They are integrally connected.  When one object accelerates, time for that object runs more slowly than it does for a stationary object. (That object or person would not experience time as running more slowly, but from the standpoint of the stationary observer, it does.)  And acceleration causes the shape of space, literally, to change.  The object accelerating itself becomes smaller in the eyes of the stationary observer, and "circles" in this world would no longer have the same circumference that they have in a stationary world.  Thus, as distance covered over time increases, time itself moves more slowly in the eyes of the stationary overserver.

Thus, space and time are connected, and so is empty space and matter.  Einstein showed that the the mass of physical objects (gravity) has the same affect on space and time as acceleration.  In the presence of massive objects time slows down (at least from the standpoint of an observer who is not near a massive object.)  The shape of space changes to the extent that a straight line, from the view point of someone on earth, would not be straight to an observer viewing it in outer space. Light itself, and the speed of light is one of the essential parameters, the boundary of this world.

Similarly, he showed that matter and energy are largely the same.  Matter is potential energy and can be converted to energy (e=mc squared).  And light, the electromagnetic force, is connected to it all, setting the parameters through which space, acceleration and time must be viewed.   According to physicist Brian Greene, we always move through space-time at the speed of light.   When we accelerate through space, some of that motion is, in effect, diverted from the time access, slowing down time.  Thus, space, time, matter, gravity, and energy are all connected.

Connectedness, connectedness, connectedness.  The "and" underlies more than was first thought.  While he failed in his efforts to show a grand unifying theory of the universe, might it be because of the strength of the "or"?  Things can only be so connected?