Friday, June 13, 2014

The entertaining Einstein

I love Einstein. For a genius, he was a pretty down-to-earth chap. He endeared himself to me with his explanation of Relativity - "When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That's relativity." Not only was his explanation simple, it was very kind as well. After all, remembering that people like me exist, he could well have said, "When you are courting a nice girl, an hour seems like a second. For the girl, though, it would seem like an eternity. That's relativity."

It is not surprising that he kept it simple. After all, it was he who also said, "Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction." Something that is even less comprehensible to the leaders of the world than his theory of relativity. I, particularly, loved that oxymoron - 'intelligent fool'. The world abound in people who are extremely intelligent, indeed, but refuse to apply it in deciding what needs to be done and, instead, exult in how well they have done whatever they have done - even if all that they have done is pulling down civilization around our ears.

That, though, is probably a result of thinking that schooling equals education. Einstein has something to say on that as well - "Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school." One can only bemoan the persistence of memory in people, for it leaves them with a collection of facts but robs them of all understanding. As a result, everyone chases the will-o-the-wisp of progress and, more often than not, the progress that they chase is technological progress. And, strangely for the foremost scientist of his times, Einstein says, "Technological progress is like an ax in the hands of a pathological criminal." The solutions that we search for the problems that we create with our over-use of technology also seem to lie in more technology. The failure to solve the problems proves the Einsteinian statement "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."

One cannot accuse Einstein of being right all the time. After all, as he himself says, "Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new." So, when Heisenberg proposed his uncertainty principle, Einstein opposed it with his "God does not play dice." The problem, though, was that he was wrong as were most - if not all - people who presumed to have read the mind of God. (Apropos of that, even Einstein gave up on understanding one thing that all of us dread - "The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax.") It appeared that God reveled in playing dice, since the Quantum theory is held to be true and has given rise to a whole menagerie starting with the conundrum of Schrodinger's cat and on-wards to the String and M theories of the Universe, which have nearly replaced Einstein's own General Theory of Relativity, even though the Special Theory of Relativity is still considered valid enough for practical use.

One cannot take away from Einstein his seminal contribution to science on account of one misstep. He had the courage to step outside the bounds of the science of his day, thereby earning the right to say, "In order to form an immaculate member of a flock of sheep one must, above all, be a sheep." It also seems like he was a man who knew that what was valuable in life is not always what can be measured. For he held that "Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts."

I only wish that one of his other statements also proves wrong, at least in the future - "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe." Failing which, we may find ourselves testing the truth of one more of his statements - "I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones."

36 comments:

  1. Is it me or this was really intense? Maybe it is me for whenever I read Einstein, Heisenberg and Schrodinger in the same text I remember my physics text books! :)

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    1. Hahaha! Naba! Except my outright farcical posts, most of my posts can be read as intense or as funny - or so I think :) Sometimes, yes, the intensity does overwhelm the humor :) Maybe it did in this one.

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  2. why do i have this strange feeling like the spirit of sheldon cooper has entered your body? (sheldon who? he ->http://the-big-bang-theory.com/characters.Sheldon/)
    so like sheldon would say, "either world war 4 will be fought or not, or both, and we will have to be physically present to see when the box opens on that one..."

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    1. No - I am not possessed :) And, yes, if there is to be a World War 4, I prefer it in the box in the place of Schrodinger's cat :)

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  3. Tht was quite a post! Einstein to me is one of the greatest minds ppl . An eccentric genius he ws.
    Btw your post has oodles of physics going on in it! R u a physicist? I m bound 2 ask:-D

    Do sometimes drop by my place too
    Www.doomedwriters.blogspot.com

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    1. Very little physics in my posts - in fact this is the only one which even has a mention of physics. And, no, I am not a physicist :)

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  4. Guru ji --- too good :) - "Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts." --- brilliant :)

    "When you are courting a nice girl, an hour seems like a second. For the girl, though, it would seem like an eternity. That's relativity." --- This particular statement summarises my situation with wonderful brevity :)

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    1. That counting thing was Einstein's not mine :)

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  5. Einstien surely had some quotable quotes there ! "Intelligent fool" - now that's something that's a very common entity in the world now.. with the kind of education system we have, we have all become intelligent fools ! Great tribute !

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    1. Yeah - knowing how to do some things is a far cry from knowing what is the right thing to do.

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  6. Very innovative ..and I loved the concluding lines.

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    1. Thanks Alka! The concluding lines were also Einstein's, though I chose them to conclude with.

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  7. I had never heard of the counting quote from Einstein. Awesome quote!

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    1. THAT apparently was what was hung in his room

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  8. I loved all the quotes you have shared and the profound wisdom of your interpretations! His inference about human stupidity was bang on :).

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    1. He had a very pithy sense of humor too. I was amazed and overawed

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  9. Einstein's quotes...I always find them interesting... really he was a courageous man....

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  10. Hah...I like how you have "quoted" Einstein all along the post. One almost imagines him sitting next to you co-writing this piece!

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  11. I had read all these quotes by Einstein and even they are my favorites, Sureshji. Especially the pretty girl, stupidity & world war ones :)

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  12. I submitted a comment but doesnt seem like it went through.. basically had said that all the quotes are awesome.. they soak in reality unlike others... and that I agree with Naba... the intensity in this post is apparent and I am glad for that, the message it conveys is very important :)

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    1. Ah! One of those itinerant internet black holes - I suffer from them too on occasion :)

      I agree - Einstein was an awesome person.

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  13. He said that about income tax? True genius. And requires a genius to reflect on what Einstein said.
    Profound yet witty. As always.

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  14. The "kind" Einstein bit in the first paragraph is hillarious! Perhaps he left that bit for guys like you to explain relativity ;) The whole post is a delightful read, as always :)

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    1. Thanks Beloo! More kindness from Einstein leaving things for me to explain? :P

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  15. I discovered your blog today. Wonder, why I didn't see it before!
    Loved your interpretation of Einstein's quote on relativity.
    "Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe." This is my favorite quote from Einstein.

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  16. That was an interesting one - This was a different kind of post from your usual ones.

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    1. Sort of straddles my philosophy posts and my humor posts, huh? :)

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  17. I had a chapter in English on Albert Einstein in class XIi (not in physics) . Had come across some of these quotes in it. He was a noble soul , not just a genius

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    1. So he was! And Einstein in English is a far easier read than Einstein in physics :)

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  18. Ooh, this is intense for a humor writer. Nevertheless, well argued. Enjoyed the drizzle of humor. :D Keep them coming. :D

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