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102 Comments
- syroncoda, on 10/10/2007, -4/+37holy crap i understand how he feels.
"My passionate sense of social justice and social responsibility has always contrasted oddly with my pronounced lack of need for direct contact with other human beings and human communities. I am truly a 'lone traveler' and have never belonged to my country, my home, my friends, or even my immediate family, with my whole heart; in the face of all these ties, I have never lost a sense of distance and a need for solitude..."
totally my way of looking at life. weird. - xjadams, on 10/10/2007, -2/+28How naive of you and many others like you to believe that we occupy some period of time that is unique and different to such an extent that we would throw away some of the wisest words written by the wisest people in nothing but a vain attempt to hide from feeling that somehow, today, we are less than what we were even just a mere 10 years ago. It is this sense of loss that compels the strong individual to stand up to the state and demand freedom. It is also this sense of loss that compels the weak individual to claim extenuating circumstances so that they can feel at least that their time was special and different, even if they themselves perceive the slow loss of liberty.
Einstein lived in a time when a charismatic leader conviced millions of Germans that they should be complicit in or at least silent in the slaughter of millions. We live in a time when a dunce has convinced millions of other dunces that the slaughter of 3000 is the necessary justification for the slaughter of perhaps hundreds of thousands. The world is more safe today than it was during Einstein's time, yet we hold up our tragic, but historically small 9/11 as justification when all it really consists of, is an intellectual cop-out. - kingkilr, on 10/10/2007, -1/+23He wrote a letter to FDR that convinced him to focus the US on the creation of the atomic bomb.
- Beeryan, on 10/10/2007, -1/+16longer edition:
http://static.scribd.com/docs/84x3ed5jkncgw.swf?IN ... - johndoenumber2, on 10/10/2007, -1/+16He has been gone for some time but his stuff still makes it to the front page of Digg. Now that is a lasting impression.
- RabidAngel, on 10/10/2007, -2/+14As already pointed out, he discovered something that allowed the development of the atomic bomb. He was the the first of several scientists to write a letter, urging that the bomb NOT be used on human beings. In fact, some of those scientists were - yes, ironically - Oppenheimer and others who helped make the bomb. It wasn't until the bomb went off in testing that the scientists realized what a hellish thing they had unleashed on the world.
- Beeryan, on 10/10/2007, -4/+15isn't there a ron paul, iPhone, or bush topic you should be spamming?
- Toshibi, on 10/10/2007, -1/+12What Pedro doesn't understand is that he was reading the words of a wise person. Todays political climate is devoid of wisdom. It's devoid of reason. When I read the writings of people like Einstein, Jefferson, Franklin, Feynman, and others, I look at what they're saying and attempt to wrap my mind around it. These were some of the brightest people to ever live. How does their wisdom apply today? What Einstein says about the military has truth to it. We have millions of people around the world whose purpose is basically to end human life because two or more adults can't agree on a basic contract or because of the equivalent of leaves falling over their neighbor's fence. We have a massive system in place which locks up resources only to be destroyed at some point (bombs, bullets, etc.) which subtracts from the total finite resources available to us. He says we should all have a voice. He says we're all individuals. He says that sometimes we need leaders, but leadership attracts the power hungry. All true.
Okay, I've gone on too long over a post as stupid as Pedro's. - wreckosaurus, on 10/10/2007, -0/+10"An individual who should survive his physical death is also beyond my comprehension, nor do I wish it otherwise; such notions are for the fears or absurd egoism of feeble souls."
http://members.aol.com/Heraklit1/einstein.htm - petewiz, on 10/10/2007, -2/+11If people listened to the insight of geniuses like Albert Einstein, Carl Sagan and other brilliant scientific minds, we wouldn't be in any of the ***** situations that engulf the world today. But rather than using reason and logic to advance human civilization, people feel the need to subscribe to artificial social concepts, ancient moral codes/superstitions and extremely narrow-minded political ideologies. The truth is the way to the future, not man-made institutions and beliefs.
- blackjack75, on 10/10/2007, -0/+9The passage about the need that people have for idols - including one like himself - is very telling of his nature. Sadly great men refuse power the people are willing to give them and lesser people grab it with both hands.
- d03boy, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8Einstein stood on the shoulders of giants. They're all complements of each other. Saying one is the top dog is foolish.
- fuzzmeister, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8He helped the US with the Bomb because he thought that Nazi Germany was going to get one first, a concept which understandably terrified him. He always said that he never would have contributed to the project if he had known the Nazis wouldn't get one.
- tunapez, on 10/10/2007, -0/+8"The trite objects of human efforts -- possessions, outward success, luxury -- have always seemed to me contemptible."
Modern translation: -- bling, power-mongering, McMansions -- - Asianwaste, on 10/10/2007, -6/+14I hate that we need the military. The fact that the seeds of society were all sown in the beginning and just about every civilization needed an armed force is a deep introspection of our true nature. We, as humans try to avoid the game that nature has set before which is the survival of the fittest. We nurture and protect our physically weak and help less because we know there are other merits besides brawn. In many cases those other merits can be used to guide a strong arm in cunningly crafted ploys. Einstein's work fell victim to that sad fact. We have not avoided survival of the fittest, we have only simply amended the rules to separate us from the animals. No matter how progressive we get, we are still from carnivorous animals and will hence always need an armed force to both protect and destroy us.
- Frei, on 10/10/2007, -3/+10Yeah as opposed to the early-mid 20th century.
- Scynet, on 10/10/2007, -0/+6Well, it's the American Institute of Physics we're talking about.
- somesthetic, on 10/10/2007, -1/+6that was a fine essay from a smart man.
- Laughto, on 10/10/2007, -6/+11"My passionate sense of social justice and social responsibility has always contrasted oddly with my pronounced lack of need for direct contact with other human beings and human communities. I am truly a 'lone traveler' and have never belonged to my country, my home, my friends, or even my immediate family, with my whole heart; in the face of all these ties, I have never lost a sense of distance and a need for solitude..."
Right there with you Steiny (though at a comfortable distance), even if 'lone traveller' comes off as trite these days - blackhawk919, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5I think that what his words say is that he thinks the world would be a better place if there was no need for war. He was certainly not against the use of force to bring a war quickly to it's end. It would be interesting to know at what point in his life he wrote the Essay. I wonder what year it was?
- pAq6Swad, on 09/16/2008, -0/+5What kingkilr said: http://www.aip.org/history/einstein/ae43a.htm
- gingerboyiv, on 10/10/2007, -0/+5einstein didnt entirely make that letter, it was mostly made by Szilard
- inactive, on 10/10/2007, -8/+12And for some odd Ironic reason, he helped with the atomic bomb.....
- 4degrees, on 10/10/2007, -8/+12that is arguable. Technically he simply discovered the relationship of Energy to matter, the war mongers did the rest. I believe it was Oppenheimer that had the visions of boom.
- pahoehoe, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4I think he lived comfortably on money he got from Princeton (a private university), a Nobel prize, universities in Europe, and working as a patent clerk in Bern. He likely had many other sources of income, but I doubt he forgot where any of it came from. He made all his notable discoveries before moving to the United States, and this letter was penned before the beginning of Nazi aggression.
- pineutrino, on 10/10/2007, -1/+59-11 changed everything, including our ability to place value on peace and non-violence, is that it?
- amadeusdemarzi, on 10/10/2007, -0/+4and he also wrote another letter later, asking FDR to discontinue the work done on it as well.
- ironSmith, on 10/10/2007, -1/+5Every genius has to have something of a poet
- rapcrap187, on 10/10/2007, -2/+6The smartest man to ever set foot on our planet. His insight is so dead on, and it's composed with such a brilliant use of words ;wow I have to read more of his essays.
- RST1123, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Well, I didn't see it a year and a half ago; so piss off.
- N4S74, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Einstein 2008?
It's good to dream... right? - spammvp, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3Thomas Jefferson, Ron Paul, Myself, and any educated person who knows the difference between a democracy and a REPUBLIC.
http://www.ronpaullibrary.org/document.php?id=178 - dellis, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4Giuliani is that you? Do you have to bring 9/11 into *every* conversation?
- petewiz, on 10/10/2007, -1/+4Einstein > pedrovoltaire There's a reason people quote Einstein and not random fools from the internet.
- OutThisLife, on 10/10/2007, -4/+7I wish I had his babies.
- pahoehoe, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3August 2, 1939 - "Einstein signs a letter to President Franklin D. Roosevelt, referring to the possibility of making an atom bomb and to the danger that the Germans might construct such a weapon."
March 7, 1940 - "Second letter intended for President Roosevelt, on the atom bomb."
1945 - "In a letter to President Roosevelt, Einstein tries to enable Leo Szilard and other physicists to state publicly their anxieties about the atom bomb."
Excerpts from "Albert Einstein" by Albrecht Folsing. Page 859 and 860. - cnot3, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3I wish I had his mustache.
- Beeryan, on 10/10/2007, -0/+3yes he wrote it.
http://www.amazon.com/World-As-I-See/dp/080650711X - erkokite, on 10/23/2007, -1/+4Yeah, I'm sure you're so much smarter than the most brilliant human being to ever tread the earth.
- jmkiii, on 10/10/2007, -4/+7Yes you are.
- adc89, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2But then again so was Hitler...
- infinity198, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2i was not here a year and a half ago
- bawbaw, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3I wonder what would men like Hitler do to men like Einstein, who abhor herd like mentality of war.
- slowth, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2This is an excerpt from "The World As I See It," originally published in Forum and Century, Vol. 84, pp. 193-194, New York: Simon and Schuster, 1931.
- chaos7, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2einstein rules
- amadeusdemarzi, on 10/10/2007, -0/+2Cute, and what have you contributed to humanity?
- pahoehoe, on 10/10/2007, -0/+29-11 did not change everything.
- spammvp, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3I have a problem with him saying "my political ideal is a democracy"
He is contradicting himself because a democracy does not protect an individual's rights.
http://www.ronpaullibrary.org/document.php?id=178 - pahoehoe, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3He bought an O-Reilly sticker.
- mashw, on 10/10/2007, -1/+3What a completely unnecessary comment.
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