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What Life Means to Einstein (1929) [pdf]

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Re: What Life Means to Einstein (1929) [pdf]

#31

Post by keiferski »

ruthmarx wrote: post #30
keiferski wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder how much of this ultimately comes down to branding. Einstein has a memorable name, a memorable haircut/photograph, and also managed to have his name become a byword for “genius.”

I'm not familiar with the other names in the parent comment, but do their accomplishments map to Einstein's as far as impact goes? I think they would have to before we consider branding as a main factor in longevity of...reputation?

Depends on what you mean by impact. Those other figures were quite influential on European (and thus global) politics during and after WW1. One could argue that the harsh policies toward Germany had a big impact on setting the stage for WW2, the largest war in history. So I wouldn’t be too dismissive of their impact on world history.

Of course in the grand scheme of things Einstein was probably more influential, but I was more commenting on the fact that Einstein has become a kind of memetic symbol in himself, a bit like Ché, whereas the others haven’t. (Most people probably can’t even name more than a handful of people from WW1.) Maybe that only happened because his work was so impactful, but does the average person really know much about relativity? I was trying to find a paper that traced how Einstein became synonymous with genius but couldn’t come up with anything.

Re: What Life Means to Einstein (1929) [pdf]

#32

Post by amunozo »

alberto_ol wrote: post #7
amunozo wrote: post #2

I use this post to ask a question I just had a bit before: can anyone recommend me an Einstein's biography?

If you want a scientific biography, "Subtle is the Lord" by Abraham Pais, but you need a degree in physics to understand many chapters (unfortunately for me a degree in engineering was not enough). Abraham Pais wrote also "Einstein Lived Here" a non-scientific biography, but I did not read it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subtle_is_the_Lord

I actually have a degree in Physics but I am not sure it is what I want (I don't remember much :D). But I will take a look. Thanks a lot for both recommendations!

Re: What Life Means to Einstein (1929) [pdf]

#33

Post by steve1977 »

ruthmarx wrote: post #30
keiferski wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder how much of this ultimately comes down to branding. Einstein has a memorable name, a memorable haircut/photograph, and also managed to have his name become a byword for “genius.”

I'm not familiar with the other names in the parent comment, but do their accomplishments map to Einstein's as far as impact goes? I think they would have to before we consider branding as a main factor in longevity of...reputation?

Erich Ludendorff was a rather significant factor in the rise to power of the Nazis and he coined the term “total war”.

So he certainly had an impact, I’m not sure if I would use the term accomplishment though.

Re: What Life Means to Einstein (1929) [pdf]

#34

Post by amunozo »

gradschoolfail wrote: post #6
amunozo wrote: post #2

I use this post to ask a question I just had a bit before: can anyone recommend me an Einstein's biography?

I recommend the closest thing to an autobiography, The travel diaries of Albert Einstein https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691174419/th...

This looks like something I would really enjoy, thank you!

Re: What Life Means to Einstein (1929) [pdf]

#35

Post by openrisk »

keiferski wrote: post #23
laGrenouille wrote: post #18

> His fame may outlive Foch and Ludendorff, Wilson and Clemenceau. Funny to think how this has aged since 1915. Over a century later Einstein is an almost universally known figure. The others on this list are, particularly outside of France, names that I would not expect the median person to be able to say something interesting about.

I wonder how much of this ultimately comes down to branding. Einstein has a memorable name, a memorable haircut/photograph, and also managed to have his name become a byword for “genius.”

Interestingly this is what he thought of the matter at the time:

> Our time, he added, "is Gothic in its spirit. Unlike the Renaissance, it is not dominated by a few outstanding personalities. The twentieth century has established the democracy of the intellect. In the republic of art and science there are many men who take an equally important part in the intellectual movements of our age. It is the epoch rather than the individual that is important. There is no one dominant personality like Galileo or Newton".

Now, there was probably a good deal of fake modesty in that statement - he was a fairly dominant personality in the first part of the 20th century. But I suspect a key reason Einstein continues to be a widely recognizable name is that current scientists (physicists etc., those who are most equipped to rank / perpetuate his status) continue being in awe of the singular nature of his contributions, more so than any of the other "greats" of that period.

Why so? He could not have predicted it himself back then, but more than a century later his work would not have been "normalized". There was no subsequent breakthrough in fundamental physics that would somehow link geometry/gravity with the rest of the physics "stuff" (or vice-versa). As he relates in the interview, during that time (1929) he was working on a unified theory of gravity and electromagnetism but his language suggests he was not at all confident. Till this day the mental models he introduced to help us grasp the workings of the universe remain a thing apart.

Re: What Life Means to Einstein (1929) [pdf]

#36

Post by ruthmarx »

keiferski wrote: post #31
ruthmarx wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not familiar with the other names in the parent comment, but do their accomplishments map to Einstein's as far as impact goes? I think they would have to before we consider branding as a main factor in longevity of...reputation?

Depends on what you mean by impact. Those other figures were quite influential on European (and thus global) politics during and after WW1. One could argue that the harsh policies toward Germany had a big impact on setting the stage for WW2, the largest war in history. So I wouldn’t be too dismissive of their impact on world history. Of course in the grand scheme of things Einstein was probably more influential, but…

> So I wouldn’t be too dismissive of their impact on world history.

Not of their impact on world history, no, but we are discussing more how the idea of someone lives on after they are dead and for how long, so maybe in that context it maybe deserves to be dismissed, as in there's a reason those figures are not referenced or talked about as much as Einstein is.

Re: What Life Means to Einstein (1929) [pdf]

#37

Post by magicloop »

keiferski wrote: post #27
lqet wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the philosopher who had the most influence on Einstein (and on other physicists of the early 20th century) was Arthur Schopenhauer: > Schopenhauer was well read by physicists, most notably Einstein, Schrödinger, Wolfgang Pauli, and Majorana. Einstein described Schopenhauer's thoughts as a "continual consolation" and called him a genius. In his Berlin study three figures hung on the wall: Faraday, Maxwell, Sch…

From what I understand, Einstein’s education and cultural milieu was very influenced by Kant, but Einstein himself was personally more interested in Schopenhauer.

To quote Schopenhauer (English translation): ``` But space and time are not only, each for itself, presupposed by matter, but a union of the two constitutes its essence, for this, as we have seen, consists in action, i.e., in causation ```

That's the kind of thinking that could help Einstein formulate an idea of "spacetime"

Re: What Life Means to Einstein (1929) [pdf]

#38

Post by layer8 »

PunchTornado wrote: post #29

I am surprised to find out that Einstein was so convinced in the non-existence of free will. > I claim credit for nothing. Everything is determined, the beginning as well as the end, by forces over which we have no control. It is determined for the insect, as well as for the star. Human beings, vegetables or cosmic dust, we all dance to a mysterious tune, intoned in the distance by an invisible player. Meanwhile, I b…

It probably depends on what you mean by free will. People who disagree about determinism and/or compatibilism usually can’t agree on a common definition of free will either.

Your Einstein quote above doesn’t necessarily deny free will.

Re: What Life Means to Einstein (1929) [pdf]

#39

Post by pkoird »

It's a shame that Einstein thought writing a book for popular consumption to be an endeavor tied solely to material ambitions. I, for one, would have loved to read "A brief history of time" esque compilation written by Einstein himself. It would have been a great way to peek into his mind and get to know him better (sans the obvious mathematical way).

Re: What Life Means to Einstein (1929) [pdf]

#40

Post by Dig1t »

laGrenouille wrote: post #18

> His fame may outlive Foch and Ludendorff, Wilson and Clemenceau. Funny to think how this has aged since 1915. Over a century later Einstein is an almost universally known figure. The others on this list are, particularly outside of France, names that I would not expect the median person to be able to say something interesting about.

It is almost completely due to media's frequent mention of him. He shows up in movies and TV shows a LOT, way more than any other scientist by a wide margin. Most normal people don't know what he did, but he exists in popular culture as a symbol of intelligence.
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