Subtle are Einstein's thoughts

Physics World via PhysicsWeb ^ | September 2005 | Alan H Batten

[Doctor Stochastic]

Also heat capacity.

[longshadow]

Right now I'm reading Twain's Letters from the Earth.

I commend you to read "Letter from the Recording Angel to Abner Scofield, Coal Dealer"

It is perhaps the funniest thing Twain ever wrote.

[ShadowDancer]

Thanks, I'll do that. His sardonic humor and wit are unsurpassed.

[PatrickHenry]

I think "Letters from the Earth" is all online: Letters from the Earth.

[FireTrack]

"So, it's only for the lack of the Patriot Act, that Einsten remained in America."

The FBI claimed Einstein was a member, sponsor, or affiliated with thirty-four communist fronts between 1937 and 1954. It was said that he served as honorary chairman for three communist organizations. He was never an agent of a foreign power and therefore I suspect the reason he was able to remain in the US among other reasons.

Intelligence made easier to gather by the patriot act today still would not have been a factor IMHO. I'm not an expert in the matter and I'm not even sure what constitutes a 'foreign power' as defined in today's USC.

[ShadowDancer]

Thanks. I tried reading like that online once and I just couldn't do it. I like the physical book in my hands.

[VadeRetro]

Well. now I guess we know how you came to be.

I left out the omens, the portents, the angelic choir, the annunciation, etc.

[x]

Einstein wasn't a religious Jew. His concern was more with Jewishness than with Judaism. He wasn't actually an especially nice person either. That was his prerogative: he was brilliant, and that was his contribution.

But the teddy bear or sweetheart image that Americans formed of him in his last years wasn't the real man. Some people may have been misled by the image of the gentle shaggy genius in a sweatshirt into thinking that rejection of social norms makes one more humane. That doesn't always happen. It may simply make one more egoistic. Of course Einstein wasn't a Nazi, but that's a pretty basic requirement for humaneness.

For some scientists, though, "doing physics" can be a "religious experience." It can be their way of encountering the transcendent or divine. One can certainly quarrel with such a view and want all the canonical names and texts to have their place in one's world view, but it's not for nothing that a word like "consmology" has both physical/astronomic and metaphysical/religious connotations.

[Junior]

*[Quantum] theory yields much, but it hardly brings us close to the Old One's secrets.

You fools! He was referring to The Great Old Ones!

[Doctor Stochastic]

So who will be next to penetrate Azathoth's babbling? The Lovecraft Code?

[bondserv]

If you wish to believe in the Resurrection, that is your right. Don't pretend you have anything but faith to back you up.

Do you live within the borders of the United States of America?

Carolina in your name seems to imply that you do. How do you stomach living amongst a majority of people (In the Carolinas) that believe in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ? Are they all just completely deluded psychos? How far do you have to drive to avoid a building that houses your fellow citizens who weekly are being taught and believing that Jesus rose from the dead on the third day?

There was a time in history when people believed based on tradition, but these United States of America changed all that. We can congregate with whomever we please, because there is no coercion. We are millions of rational, productive souls who contribute more to this society than any other group. Our free Christian heritage sets us apart from all other nations of the world and in history.

You must feel a foreigner. Talk with your local Christian that you find respectable. They may attempt to persuade you to change your mind on these things. Our Lord Jesus was persuasive, but never coercive; unlike other belief systems in this world, including Scientism.

[CarolinaGuitarman]

" Do you live within the borders of the United States of America?"

Yes. North Carolina.

"How do you stomach living amongst a majority of people (In the Carolinas) that believe in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ?"

Why do you think it would bother me?

"Are they all just completely deluded psychos?"

No, why would you think I thought that?

"How far do you have to drive to avoid a building that houses your fellow citizens who weekly are being taught and believing that Jesus rose from the dead on the third day?"

Why do you think I avoid churches? Is there any reason I SHOULD avoid them?

" There was a time in history when people believed based on tradition, but these United States of America changed all that."

It did? When? Your beliefs are not based on a tradition?

"You must feel a foreigner."

No, I feel like an American.

"Talk with your local Christian that you find respectable."

My whole family are Christian (Catholic to be exact); can I just call them instead? I already have a calling plan.

"Our Lord Jesus was persuasive, but never coercive; unlike other belief systems in this world, including Scientism."

You mean science, not *Scientism*. Science is just a way to examine the physical world, a methodology. I am sorry you feel so threatened by it.

[Junior]

How do you stomach living amongst a majority of people (In the Carolinas) that believe in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ?

It might be possible that he is more tolerant than your average Christian when it comes to accepting those with different views.

[PatrickHenry]

Placemarker and plug for The List-O-Links.

[tortoise]

I am not worried what Einstein thought about God.

He was borderline a raving nutter in many other areas, so outside his very narrow specialty his opinions should be viewed in a dubious light.

Classic example of an appeal to improper authority.

[Free State Four]

I don't think I would. The entire idea of living forever makes me feel very tired.

Amen, sister! Amen!

[js1138]

I think your pictures demonstrate that men get better looking as they get older.

Until reach my age. Sigh.

[djf]

From my casual readings of Einsteins non-science stuff, I get the feeling that he was way too much of an empericist to get a good hold on religion.

Which is a bit odd when you think about it, because alot of his theories themselves were not proven till we had the technology to do it.

[furball4paws]

I am in awe. Is it written in a 2000 year old book. Wow! That'll put a crimp in bondserve's tail.

[furball4paws]

That is also one my most favorites of Twain.