Hm... Kat, Your point bears thinking about.
QS's views seems to me to be similar in intent, right?
Now, suppose we walk onto a moving escalator (or similarly, those moving walkways that now are popular in airports) then there is a definite instant, both at starting and stepping off, when changes in momentum and relative motion are tricky. But once we are in uniform motion that effect zeroes out, except for our awareness that the world is passing us by at a gratifying rate relative to our level of exertion. Once the moment of transition has passed, as far as I am aware, my gait in walking or climbing (or descending) is the same as when walking on level ground or on stationary stairs, depending on whether I am on a beltway or escalator.
By way of comparison, our innards do a bit of a jump up or down (mine do anyway!) when we get into a lift and it starts down or upwards. As soon as the speed has stabilised however, our awareness of weight is exactly the same as if we were stationary. Nor is this subjective; a spring scale would tell the same story. Much the same principle applies on the escalator, I should say. For the climber of the escalator, if his eyes were closed he could not tell whether it were going up or down.
A different variable of course, is that the size of escalator steps is a bit uncomfortably large for most people...
Cheers,
Jon
