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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"

56 of 290 comments (clear)

  1. I disagree. by crashnbur · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I believe the most incomprehensible thing about the world is that a biological organism can know about itself. How did consciousness develop? Mr. Einstein?

    1. Re:I disagree. by the_2nd_coming · · Score: 2, Interesting

      hence that the world is comprehensable;-)

      we comprehend ourself and everything else and that is incomprehensable...

      you took a subset uf his premis.

      --



      I am the Alpha and the Omega-3
    2. Re:I disagree. by Cali+Thalen · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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?

      --
      Chaos, panic, disorder...my work here is done.
    3. Re:I disagree. by ambisinistral · · Score: 3, Insightful
      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.

      --

      deserve's got nothing to do with it...

    4. Re:I disagree. by gwernol · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I believe the most incomprehensible thing about the world is that a biological organism can know about itself. How did consciousness develop? Mr. Einstein?

      I would not presume to answer for Einstein, but a good theory that has considerable evidence to support it goes something like this:

      Early cognitive abilities developed over millions of years in response to complex environmental stimuli. For example, the ability to recognize shapes as various types of animal (predators and prey) and track them has obvious uses for a hunting species like humans.

      Once a large enough set of these mid-level cognitive functions has evolved, a central mechanism for making sense of the potentially conflicting interpretations will also evolve. By this point the human brain is complex enough to support a "virtual machine" running a serial narrative interpreter. Basically consciousness is a mechanism for interpreting the world into a coherent story about the decisions that the subconscious mind is making.

      This is a (very simplified) description of the philosopher Daniel Dennett's explanation. The work is all Dennett's, any and all mistakes in the summary are mine :-)

      I'd strongly recommend Consciousness Explained, Dennett's much more detailed and evidenced description of all this.

      --
      Sailing over the event horizon
    5. Re:I disagree. by Gortbusters.org · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Our condition is our reality, and on the subjective level, the physicality of our world is taken for granted. Consciousness means experiencing duality. Everything we know must be processed one way or the other. The philosophers who focused on this duality set limits to what we can know, pointing out that we can in no way know "the world" as it actually is, that we can only know our perceptions of "the world". We take these perceptions to be the material world. The psyche mirrors an image, and the image can only be an abstraction being processed by the organism's nervous system. Without psyche, we do not experience matter. Consciousness may require we experience the duality of psyche and matter; but, theoretically uniting matter and psyche brings together the "physical" and "mental". This objective is consistent with Eastern Mysticism, which does not separate the observer from the observed, the subject from the object, etc.

      (Source)

      --
      --------
      Free your mind.
    6. Re:I disagree. by cpeterso · · Score: 3, Interesting


      Douglas Hofstadter's book "Gödel, Escher, Bach - an Eternal Golden Braid" has some HEAVY examination of (human and machine) consciousness. My favorite metaphor he uses for consciousness is an ant hill. The ant hill has many layers of emergent, recursive properties.

    7. Re:I disagree. by gwernol · · Score: 2, Informative

      Douglas Hofstadter's book "Gödel, Escher, Bach - an Eternal Golden Braid" has some HEAVY examination of (human and machine) consciousness. My favorite metaphor he uses for consciousness is an ant hill. The ant hill has many layers of emergent, recursive properties.

      Indeed, and in fact Dennett and Hofstadter have worked together in some depth. Try The Mind's I co-authored by Hofstadter and Dennett for a fascinating series of essays on this very subject.

      --
      Sailing over the event horizon
    8. Re:I disagree. by aerogeek · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I don't buy the dualist approach either, but only because I refuse to relegate everthing I cannot explain to the realm of metaphysiscs. I would argue that a rational explanation for the subjective nature of consciousness exists independently of our ability to discover it--and that we may never be able to make that discovery. The question is whether a being can ever fully understand itself, or if an outside observer is required.

      In the meantime, I will go read Dennett's book :)

  2. If you're ever in Washington, DC by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Stop by the Albert Einstein Memorial Statue and sit in his lap!

    1. Re:If you're ever in Washington, DC by trtmrt · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Actually, the statue has a focal point for sound. If you stand in the marked point in front of the statue (I think it's a point on a star map) and speak you can hear this.

  3. i bet he never by joeldg · · Score: 3, Funny

    He did e=mc^2 but I bet he never in his wildest dreams wondered if a site about him would be slashdotted...

  4. The most incomprehensible thing... by ashkar · · Score: 3, Funny

    The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that people still write websites without checking browser compatability.

    The guy who wrote this site is no fucking Einstein.

  5. Inevitable Theist Onslaught by limekiller4 · · Score: 5, Funny

    The first creationist who takes this opportunity to reply and infer that Einstein's "god does not play dice" comment is tacit proof of god is going to get beat with a dusty 1200 baud modem.

    --
    My .02,
    Limekiller
    1. Re:Inevitable Theist Onslaught by limekiller4 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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.

      --
      My .02,
      Limekiller
    2. Re:Inevitable Theist Onslaught by JonnyElvis42 · · Score: 4, Funny

      The first creationist who takes this opportunity to reply and infer that Einstein's "god does not play dice" comment is tacit proof of god is going to get beat with a dusty 1200 baud modem.

      Damnit! I knew there was a better way to clean off a dusty modem than with a rag. Now why didn't I think of that, and why did you never tell me?
      As for "god does not play dice" being tacit proof of God, heck, that's not even tacit proof of dice.

    3. Re:Inevitable Theist Onslaught by Telastyn · · Score: 4, Interesting

      A better argument than physical abuse would probably be Hawking's "Not only does God definitely play dice, but He sometimes confuses us by throwing them where they can't be seen." comment (http://www.hawking.org.uk/lectures/dice.html)

      Though certainly physical abuse is a satisfying alternative if that doesn't help.

    4. Re:Inevitable Theist Onslaught by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

      "It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it." -- Albert Einstein, 24 March 1954

      You know, sometimes you people are your own worst enemies.

  6. Handwriting by IpsissimusMarr · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Makes me feel as though I may have a chance at this science thing after all. I thought scientists had meticulous handwriting (you know, to differenciate themselves from medical doctors). But seeing Einstein's handwriting is pretty much incomprehensible makes me think my scribble could just make take me into the big time. heh.

    --
    "Engineers do the work of man, Physicists do the work of God"
    1. Re:Handwriting by jdh-22 · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Funny you mention that, but his handwriting does tell something about him, and you. My grandmother has been an handwriting anyalist for almost 40 years now, and I have been learning for a couple.

      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. A quailty many scientists poses.

      So your scribble can mean many different things. Might wanna check out The Complete Idiot's Guide to Handwriting Analysis which is a very good book to get started with.

      --
      Every Super Villan uses Linux.
    2. Re:Handwriting by Idarubicin · · Score: 4, Insightful
      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.

      --
      ~Idarubicin
    3. Re:Handwriting by Thud457 · · Score: 2, Funny
      Idiot.

      This is America. We judge a man by the form of his penmanship rather than the content of his writings.

      --

      the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff

    4. Re:Handwriting by jpkunst · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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

    5. Re:Handwriting by BigBadBri · · Score: 2, Funny
      The Complete Idiot's Guide to Handwriting Analysis

      Isn't the phrase "Complete Idiot's" a little superfluous in this book title?

      An analysis of my handwriting once produced a diagnosis of me as a sad, lonely wanker with absolutely no point in life.

      Aaaaah - it's just dawned on me...

      --
      oh brave new world, that has such people in it!
  7. Ask Slashdot? by dogfart · · Score: 4, Funny
    While I would applaud adding Dr. Einstein to the illustrious list of "Ask Slashdot" contributors, this is difficult to do for someone who has been dead 48 years

    Better luck with the "cowboy neal" option

    --

    "dope will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no dope"

  8. A More Dignified Einstein? by __aagmrb7289 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    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...

    1. Re:A More Dignified Einstein? by DaveAtFraud · · Score: 4, Funny

      Once you can accept the universe as being something expanding into an infinite nothing which is something, wearing stripes with plaid is easy.

      Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.

      --Einstein

      The man had a real sense of humor.

      --
      They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither safety nor liberty.
      Ben
    2. Re:A More Dignified Einstein? by dopyko · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Well, they could have picked a less dignified picture ..

  9. I Really Need Some Sleep... by LordYUK · · Score: 3, Funny

    Because even though I read the title right, my brain decided that it should really be "Getting Head Inside Einsteins" (which for those of you who dont have one, is a bagel shop)...

    Too bad, I would have loved to grab one on the way home... Bagel, that is...

    Perverts.

    =)

    --
    This is my sig. Its pathetic.
  10. "Us intelligent folks" by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    We.

  11. Inside Einstein's Head by duct_tape_n_wd40 · · Score: 2, Informative

    Geez, I thought this would be a story about Einstein's brain

    --
    .siggy .siggy .siggy .siggy hoi hoi hoi - Prosit!
  12. Re:hmmm.. by JonnyElvis42 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Is anyone actually going to post ontopic to this story?

    I'm sorry, but what does "on topic" mean again? I think I missed the article that defined that.

  13. special relativity...wow by selderrr · · Score: 5, Funny

    You gotta give it to the man for taking up challenges : as if this relativity stuff isn't complicated enough, he even wrote it in german !

  14. the other archives by AbdullahHaydar · · Score: 4, Informative
    --


    Suicide Booth: You are now dead! Thank you for using Stop and Drop, America's favorite since 2008.
  15. On Physics by Mtn_Dewd · · Score: 5, Insightful

    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.

    --



    My little sad piece of the internet: www.mtndewd
    1. Re:On Physics by kfg · · Score: 3, Insightful

      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

    2. Re:On Physics by Mr.+McGibby · · Score: 4, Insightful

      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.

      --
      Mad Software: Rantings on Developing So
    3. Re:On Physics by johnjay · · Score: 5, Interesting

      If you like that type of stuff you might consider reading David Hume's A Treatise of Human Nature (Book 1 is all I've read). Hume methodically, scientifically, and ruthlessly tears down the relation between cause and effect that we human beings are almost hard-wired to believe in. It's a great read for scientists, since they are constantly trying to infer causes from effects.

      Also, after nearly creating a cold, disjointed world of skepticism, he ends by saying he's going to pop of to the pub, have a smoke and play some backgammon to reassure himself of the importance of real life. It's a nice human touch after such rigorous brilliance.

      And, if you want to feel humble, he wrote this revolutionary book in his early 20s. He made much better use of his 20s than I've made of mine.

  16. The Meaning Of Relativity by reverseengineer · · Score: 3, Informative

    I made a beeline for The Stafford Lectures, a series of lectures he gave at Princeton in 1921- which were later collected, translated, and published under the title "The Meaning of Relativity," a copy of which I happen to have. It was fascinating to look at the original notes that eventually would become the text of a book I own. It was even more fascinating that the equations were now the most comprehensible part of the text, as I don't understand much German (pitifully little considering my heritage), and even if I did, Einstein wrote his notes in a messy cursive scrawl with many scratch-outs and replaced passages. Still, it's a very interesting glimpse into Einstein's thought processes.

    --
    "FDA staff reviewers expressed concern about the number of patients who were left out of the study because they died."
  17. Text of article incase of Slashdotting by acposter · · Score: 2, Informative

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

    Perhaps the world is indeed comprehensible to a genius like Einstein. And -- with the launch of a new website on Monday -- at least Einstein himself will be a bit more comprehensible to the world.

    In addition to the voluminous collection of Einstein's writings, some never before published and none previously available online, the website will house an extensive database of 40,000 documents, images and research on Einstein's life and work, as well as digitized copies of Einstein's professional and personal correspondence and pages from his notebooks and travel diaries.

    The site will include documents refuting popular beliefs about Einstein. He was not a bad student -- the only subject he flunked was French. He didn't work for the U.S. government on top-secret projects like the atom bomb; instead, he was for many years monitored by the FBI as a possible threat to national security. And he was, as his personal letters prove, an unrepentant flirt.

    The new website, which goes live Monday at 3 p.m. EST, is the result of a year-long cooperative effort between the Albert Einstein Archives at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Einstein Papers Project at the California Institute of Technology.

    "It is a beautiful collaboration between two continents," said Diana Kormos Buchwald, director and general editor of the Einstein Papers Project. "We hope it will serve both the general public and researchers equally well."

    The site was launched to compliment the day-long symposium on Einstein's life and work being held Monday at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

    At the symposium, among other subjects, researchers will discuss 2,000 unpublished pages of calculations recently found in Einstein's files. Kormos Buchwald said the calculations are connected with Einstein's pursuit of a Grand Unified Theory.

    Einstein firmly believed he would be able to describe every single law of physics through one simple mathematical equation. Although he devoted 35 years to his quest for the Unified Theory, it's believed he failed to discover that magic calculation.

    But Kormos Buchwald said the 2,000 pages of notes, seemingly written shortly before Einstein's death in 1955, have yet to be fully explored.

    "We have a lot of wonderful research to do yet, a lot of work ahead of us," Kormos Buchwald said. The calculations eventually will be posted on the website. The Einstein Papers Project plans to publish more than 14,000 Einstein-related documents in a 25-volume series called, aptly enough, "The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein."

    The eight volumes that are available so far contain Einstein's writings and correspondence from his youth to age 40. They include his major papers on the theory of special relativity, general relativity, the quantum theory of light and matter, as well as a wealth of lesser-known contributions on many aspects of science, education, international reconciliation, Zionism and pacifism.

    The website will present records for all items that have been edited and annotated by scholars, and those that have appeared in "The Collected Papers."

    Approximately 500 previously unpublished documents, uncovered during the past 25 years from private collections and university archives, also will be available on the website.

    Einstein Archives Online was developed in collaboration with the information technology and photo-reprography departments of Hebrew University's Jewish National and University Library, the library's David and Fela Shapell Digitization Project and the Princeton University Press.

    Einstein's personal papers were bequeathed to Hebrew University in his last will and testament. The Albert Einstein Archives have been housed at the school since 1982, after being held at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, so U.S. scholars and scientists could review them.

  18. Nah by threephaseboy · · Score: 4, Funny

    Its probably a dupe from 48+ years ago.

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    .
  19. Does it have to be that profound? by ianscot · · Score: 2, Insightful
    '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?

    --
    "Fundamentalism" isn't about divine morality. It's about human authority.
    1. Re:Does it have to be that profound? by Xerithane · · Score: 2, Insightful

      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.

      --
      Dacels Jewelers can't be trusted.
  20. Could This Wait Till Next Week? by LordYUK · · Score: 4, Funny

    I don't have time to ponder relativity...

    I'm still trying to figure out if there's really a spoon...

    --
    This is my sig. Its pathetic.
  21. The world is simple when one observation is made by HarveyBirdman · · Score: 3, Insightful
    People are idiots.

    Everything else can pretty much be derived from that.

    Sorry. Pissy mood today. Monday and all that.

    --
    --- Ban humanity.
  22. No one writes anymore by Vinnie_333 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    It's been a long time since I've written anything out by hand. I wonder what a collection like this in the futre about a current well known figure would look like? "The Collected E-Mails of George W Bush"

    --

    "We shall party like the Greeks of old! You know the ones I mean." - HedonismBot
    1. Re:No one writes anymore by bigbadbuccidaddy · · Score: 3, Funny

      Dick,
      Where are you hiding the fake poop?
      -GWB

  23. since the topic has a quote... by phaetonic · · Score: 2, Interesting

    It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity. --Albert Einstein

  24. Einstein never read Slashdot by Concerned+Onlooker · · Score: 3, Funny

    I doubt he would have found the world so comprehensible if he had.

    --
    http://www.rootstrikers.org/
  25. Not only does God play dice, he .... by burgburgburg · · Score: 4, Funny

    uses 12 sided dice and now I owe him $15,000 and a Chrysler LeBaron.

  26. The Einstein File by zaneIO · · Score: 5, Informative

    From 1933 until 1955, the Federal Bureau of Investigation compiled a 2,000-page file on Albert Einstein, hoping to "destroy" his immense stature by linking him to Soviet espionage activities. At one point, not long before the scientist's death, a attempt was made to have him deported. This campaign is responsible in large part for Einstein's exclusion from the Manhattan Project, and is docemented in the book Fred Jerome's The Einstein File. Einstein's .

  27. Arghh! by einstein · · Score: 4, Funny

    Get Out of My Head!!

  28. Best way to get into his head... by EverDense · · Score: 3, Funny

    The Best way to get into someone's head is with a powerdrill.

    --
    http://jesus.everdense.com/
  29. I believe he applied the math. by MickLinux · · Score: 3, Insightful

    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?"

    --
    Correct Horse Battery Staple: 72 bits of entropy. Enter "Correct H" into google. When it generates the phrase, that's
  30. Re:well... thats like saying... by m1chael · · Score: 2, Funny

    if einstein was so smart why is he dead?

    --
    I know you are psychotic, but please make an effort.