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Re: Einstein and more



At 11:02 10/6/97 -0500, Gary Karshner wrote:

Galileo's oppressors were not simply churchmen; they were people very like
you and ..er.. me.

It is interesting that you comment on Galileo, as he did not marry
the mother of his children.

Perhaps we ought to look askance if we find him offering
moral pronouncements?


Scientists as well as most of the rest of the
human race are not without sin.

This carries a distinct echo of that most famous quote,
( which I mangle here as...) when viewing the Alamagordo trial,
"We (physicists) have known sin..."

It is reasonable I suppose, to remind you that it was Einstein's
peace? activism that promoted the atom bomb with the President.

But does that mean that we ignore what he says?

I suggest quite simply this;
pay most attention to a person in the area of his expertise.


Along this line I am reminded of a quote from Aldous Huxley on Newton:
"If we evolved a race of Isaac Newtons, that would not be progress....

Gary Karshner


Is there anyone who celebrates this Master of the Mint for his
sunny personality? I certainly don't.
But then he never tries to advise us how to make friends and
influence people, either...

Let's take yet another look at this newspaper quote from Einstein.

"It is essential that the student acquire an understanding of a lively
feeling for values. He must acquire a vivid sense of the beautiful and
of the morally good. Otherwise he *with his specialized knowledge* more
closely resembles a well-trained dog than a harmoniously developed
person..."

Do you feel Einstein had a vivid sense of the beautiful,
of the morally good? Did he have a lively feeling for values?
Above all, did Einstein seem to be a harmoniously developed person?
Are these features at the root of his fame?

I harbor grave doubts - and I will not be persuaded otherwise by
outbursts. These lead me simply to ponder, 'look, another
strange manifestation from a physicist...'


Regards
brian whatcott <inet@intellisys.net>
Altus OK