Getting Inside Einstein's Head

su-geek writes "'The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible,' Albert Einstein once remarked. Today many scientific documents and personal papers detailing the thoughts and emotions of our favorite physicist will be available at 3PM EST you can access the Einstein Archives Online. Also, Wired is running an article"

Comments

A More Dignified Einstein?

[__aagmrb7289]

The Wired article mentions that the site attempts to redirect the "mad scientist" image of poor Mr. Einstein. But geesh, look at the picture on the first page! Seems to me like a exuberant kid trying to "pose for the camera", but is ready to break out laughing at any moment...

Re:I disagree.

[Cali Thalen]

Self-awareness is a mechanism that developed through our brain's ability to rationalize. There is a strong biological tendancy for our brain to attempt (usually quite successfully) to make is 'believe' that whatever we're seeing (feeling, etc.) makes perfect sense and can be explained rationally. It's widely believed that this lead to self-awareness through the simple rationalization that...

Oh, I'm sorry, was that rhetorical?

Re:I disagree.

[ambisinistral]

Not much of an answer.

You have the same problem, only worse, because your "higher-being" is more complex than the consciousness you were so worried about in the first place.

Re:Inevitable Theist Onslaught

[limekiller4]

An AC (aren't they all?) writes:
"its much easier to whine about being modded down then to post an intelligent comment!!"

If you understood my sig, you would understand it to mean that I prefer dialogue over death-by-disagreement. Karma is just a number. You are not your karma score. Get over it.

When you can post your thoughts without considering how it will affect your karma score you will become a benefit to the Slashdot community.

On Physics

[Mtn_Dewd]

As I continue to inflict masochistic physics damage against myself in my conquest of knowledge, I can't help but pull myself away from my studies and wonder: If this is this difficult for me to even comprehend/grasp (and I'm certain that I'm probably only learning it at a base level), how the hell does one create and come up with this stuff? I'm truly amazed by men like Einstein, and I have such a humbled respect for physicists, who though I can't understand why they do it to themselves, live and think in a different plane than so many people even realize exists.

Re:On Physics

[kfg]

Simply because it's what we do. We don't have much of what you could call "choice" in the matter, and as such it isn't "doing it to ourselves."

Why on earth do some people just code Java all day, and love it? Beats the hell out of me, but it's what makes them tick. More power to them, and they can have it.

And, to me at least, Relativity is obvious, but Java is about as arcane as it gets.

Please note which one is natural law and which is man made.

KFG

Re:On Physics

[Mr. McGibby]

Or, why don't they?

The universe is full of strange, wonderful and complex things. But the only way that human knowledge is going to progress is if the "difficult to learn" stuff is made "easy to learn" through innovative explanations, or teaching.

I personally believe that the reason that innovation in science comes is spurts is because older scientist's heads are filled with complex understanding of ideas. When these ideas are explained to a new generation, simpler and simpler ways of looking at things are created to explain the idea. The students thus gain a "simple understanding" of the same ideas. And are thus better able to go beyond those ideas.

I don't think there is very much that is "inherently" difficult to learn. Relativity is becoming easier and easier for people to understand, not because it has become simpler, but because millions of teachers have come up with easy ways to explain it.

Does it have to be that profound?

[ianscot]

'The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible,' Albert Einstein once remarked.

Sounds like the sort of thing a director says about her movie, to bullshit her way through the questions at a film festival. Orson Welles had a million of 'em.

Not to be too cynical -- I love these sorts of pithy statements, and they'd sure rate a +5 insightful on slashdot -- but are we required to assume that because he was amazing in one field, his sentiments about life and happiness are necessarily grand Higher Truths? He sure was a good quote, but there's a sort of Mark Twain trying-this-statement-on-for-size quality to Einstein sometimes, isn't there?

Re:Does it have to be that profound?

[Xerithane]

Not to be too cynical -- I love these sorts of pithy statements, and they'd sure rate a +5 insightful on slashdot -- but are we required to assume that because he was amazing in one field, his sentiments about life and happiness are necessarily grand Higher Truths? He sure was a good quote, but there's a sort of Mark Twain trying-this-statement-on-for-size quality to Einstein sometimes, isn't there?

I would really recommend reading some of his notes and books. He has some excellent tales about truly understanding a subject, how life and God interact (even if you are Athiest/Agnostic/Gnostic/Cheese) that is remarkably fascinating. The man is brilliant, and not just in one area, but you have to read what he writes to understand that...

Better than all the idiots trying to claim he was autistic and didn't know how to tie his shoes.

The world is simple when one observation is made

[HarveyBirdman]

People are idiots.

Everything else can pretty much be derived from that.

Sorry. Pissy mood today. Monday and all that.

Re:Handwriting

[Idarubicin]

Einstien's handwriting is very interesting. Notice how he dots his i's and how small his writing is. This means that he has an exceptional eye for detail, and he has an unreal imgination.

Hm. Look at his small handwriting and dotted i's, I conclude that he had better than average eyesight, and a primary school teacher who rapped his knuckles with a ruler every time he forgot to dot an i or cross a t.

I conclude that he had an eye for detail and a healthy imagination based on what's in his writing, not how the letters are formed.

Re:Handwriting

[jpkunst]

Einstien's handwriting is very interesting. Notice how he dots his i's and how small his writing is. This means that he has an exceptional eye for detail, and he has an unreal imgination.

I don't think anyone would draw this sort of conclusions from his handwriting if they didn't know beforehand that it was Einstein's. Handwriting analysis is about as scientific as astrology if you ask me. See also this article in the Skeptic's Dictionary.

JP

I believe he applied the math.

[MickLinux]

As I remember, there were irregularities in Mercury's orbit. He then adjusted the space-time equations to account for the gravitational field of the Sun, and proposed it as a theorem.

So that would imply to me that he applied the math. But first he had to come up with a model: that the irregularities were in fact regularities of the true space-time system.

He then had to decide what his limits were likely to be, and then come up with the new mathematical model. Finally, he had to check his work.

None of it was easy. None of it is easy today. But I think it was understandable for an incredibly smart person with enough time on his hands. He had both, and so he came up with it.

I think your wonderment is excellent, and you are right to wonder. But I could honestly ask the same about Linus Torvaldas' invention Linux (or semiinvention: I know he didn't do it *all* himself, neither did Einstein who had Newton's calculus to help him).

The bigger question to me is "what made him identify that as a productive field for his efforts?"