The idea that I've heard and really accepted over time is that, had Wilber and Orville Wright for whatever reason given up on flight it would have been invented in the general era they existed in anyway. It's not to say that what they accomplished wasn't extraordinary, in fact it over time completely revolutionized the way the world and humanity functioned as a whole. But it would have been invented anyway, since physicists from across the centuries, from Bernoulli to Da Vinci, had compiled a wealth of data that definitely would have been put to succesful use by somebody. But can the same thing be said about Einstein and, among other things, his Theory of Relativity? Arguably, the man was among the most influential people ever to live, completely altering our views on the universe and our own existences, especially on the perception of time. But to most of the people that I've encountered, the theory of relativity is a hard one to fully comprehend and really, really understand--volumes of literature have been written on the very subject. The thesis I wish to directly put forth is a simple one: had Einstein, for whatever reason, not existed, our world would have turned out quite differently. Weapons of mass destruction would have likely taken longer to develop, astronomy as a modern science would still be very primitive, and any other revolutions he fueled scientifically would have only occured via an accident and over a very long period of time. Agreed?Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Agreed If they didn't do it, someone else would have done Just think if Einstein hadn't exsisted at that time, the Second World War would have dragged on for a few more years, perhaps it wouldn't have ended at all. I think he may have saved thousands of lives (albiet, the nukes that were dropped in Japan killed just as much :bugeye: ) Who knows what would have happened for sure, we can only guess. I think you're onto a winner thread here Pollux Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
You're probably right about the ww2 thing, I dunno...I heard on one of those phreaky discovery channel shows that, had the US not dropped the nukes more soldiers and japanese would have died in a massive invasion similar to the one that took place at normandy.
I thought you guys might find these three quotes by Einstein interesting. They are all from, "The Expanded Quotable Einstein". "Had I known the Germans would not succeed in producing an atomic bomb, I never would have lifted a finger." "I do not know how the Third World War will be fought, but I can tell you what they will use in the Fourth---rocks!" "The truth of a theory can never be proven, for one never knows if future experience will contradict its conclusions."
Every so many generations there comes that revolutary mind that sets science on its head. Well, not just science but affects the world around them. Religions have it, all sciences have it, most every feild has it. Without those people, the world would be very different. For instance, what if Christ had not shown up (as an example and this is not for turning this into a religious debate feild) You could as easily turn this into what if Budda had not arrived, only I do not know enough to argue for Buddaism. There would not be the Catholic church nor the inquisition. Galileo would not have been under house arrest and would have been allowed to continue his work unimpeded. The crusades of the middle ages would not have occured for reglious differences. Lots of people might have lived out their lives without them being shortened by being killed during the wars that ensued. What might any of them contributed to world knowledge? Maybe nothing, maybe another Socrates, as a late bloomer. But who is to say that we would not have developed it anyway? As you say the base knowledge was there. It had only to be put together. It might have been a painstaking process but observational events would still be there and it would have to be accounted for in some manner, sooner or later. Do you think that if Sir Isaac Newton had not have tried to account for gravity that we would not know of it by now? It is an observed effect. (It should be said that is not the only contribution he made) Or what of Madame Currie? Would we not now know of raditation and it's affects? Would this have prevented the development of the atom bomb or the nuclear power plant? Or x-ray machines? Needless to say, they all did affect the world around them and the world today. By their discoveries and their contributions, they have altered the world as we know it. That will not change as once knowledge is learned it is a difficult task to forget it or control the uses that it might be put to. It is what it is... (The world as we know it.)
I would have thought much later than that. I think astronomers and scientists would have had the evidence but no one with the mind powerful enough to put it all together, the way Einstein did.
Since Einstein ripped off many of his ideas, I think he's replaceable. There are many intelligent people... just few praised by society. Einstein's "philosophy" is idiotic. I think he was a good mathematician who read the right papers. Not as smart as Newton, but Newton had farther to crawl to get to the same answers.
It should be a numbers game -- with so many more people on earth today than in 1900, there should be quite a few people smarter than Einstein floating around. I guess the problems are harder now, since the easier ones have been figured out already. Of course, some of these smart guys could be tending sheep in a desert somewhere and so can't bring their minds to bear on scientific issues very well.
I have to agree with prozak. Einstein was certainly a genius, but he didn't come up with relativity in a vacuum. He's no more a genius than many other physicists who died before him, or were born after him. Lorentz, among others, actually generated most of the mathematical formalism of relativity. Other thinkers came up with all of the geometrical tools long before Einstein. Good ol' Al just took the baton from the last runner and took it across the finish line. - Warren
It may be, but does all human knowledge get the credit Einstein gets? I mean, come on, look objectively at the context. Einstein got a lot of his inspiration from Indian mythos through Schopenhauer, of whom he was a big fan Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! And yes, Schopenhauer was smarter than Einstein!
I'm not disagreeing with you. Just trying to play devils advocate. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! I guess people just like to have one major person to give credit to. :dunno:
So we're both playing devil's advocate? OK who's not evil here? I think people like icons they feel resemble them... I think there should be more public icons to Schopenhauer.
My father was voted "Man who looks most like the Devil" By his fraternity. Scared a man out of his mind (the guy was taking PCP at the time) when he walked up to him.
Damn. All I have is what's possibly the net's oldest website devoted to blasphemy: http://www.anus.com/altar/
Einstein put it together. Whether he took a dab from here and a dab from there doesn't really matter in the sense that all of us aquire knowledge that was someone else's. As a young lad, Einstein had problems in school. Once a music tutor told him he needed to develop a sense for math so that he could become a violin player. What Einstein did was use math to to make theory and connect it to proof. No one else could do that or more precisely no one else did that. Now that the path has been shown the way is open and many now find "possibilities" within his theories. There is much more here and lord knows I am not an Einstein expert.
alternate science This thread is interesting, but you are missing many obvious points. 1. Alexander Graham Bell's plane flew just a few short years after the Wright Brother's and there is also this, among many other claims: 2. It is my opinion that Einstein didn't even write the theory of relativity, or at least borrowed very, VERY heavily upon his wife, Maric. After all, he never equalled anything like it once he left her. Synergy at the very least. 3. It was Nazi scientists that ultimately led both the USA and Russia into the Atomic age. They weren't so far behind as you might think. There are even war documents that state the Nazis MIGHT have had a working bomb that was destroyed in a chance air raid over France. A bomb that was attached to a missle aimed at New York. More importantly however is the following: There is an awful lot of misinformation out there. Read and decide for yourselves. Boo Cipher PS: if you want the links, ask and I can email them to you.
