[longshadow]

What if spacetime curvature and mass are coincidental, circumstantial, and are not cause and effect. Or what if spacetime curvature causes mass? There was a comment quite a while back pertaining to the old vortex theory of gravity, that if a planet were not there, say, Jupiter, its gravitational field would still be present, that the presence of gravity causes the planet to form right there. This is just to point out that these are all hypotheses and that flat statements might close some doors to speculation.

Nor can I prove that Invisible Star Goats are NOT pushing the planets around the Sun, instead of reacting to the influence of the spacetime curvature (gravitation).

The point is that General Relativity is a Theory that fits all available evidence and which has survived all attempts at falsification. "Vortex" theories of gravitation notwithstanding, no other gravitational theory can make that claim.

[RightWhale]

The vortex theory of gravity wasn't disproved, but it was replaced with the current theory. Apparently the vortex theory was not as easy to put into mathematical terms at the time, over 100 years ago. It wasn't necessarily wrong, just not particularly useful. The vortex theory of gravity seems to be at the root of R. C. Hoagland's recent journalistic work in digging up old, discarded physics, trying to re-open old lines of inquiry.