Christmas break allows one to read books that are fairly unrelated to my PhD program. So I am currently enjoying Walter Isaacson's Einstein - His Life and Universe. It is wonderfully written and very lucid; it explains continuity in Einstein's thinking and traits a lot better than the changes, however.
I want to share two tiny passages. On page 295, Isaacson tells how U.S. Congress in 1921 debated Einstein's general theory of relativity.
For reasons fathomable only by those whi live in that capital [Washington, DC - TH], the Senate decided to debate the theory of relativity. [...] On the House side of the Capitl, Representative J.J. Kindred of New York proposed placing an explanation of Einstein's theories in the Congressional Record. David Walsh of Massachussetts rose to object. Did Kindred understand the theory? "I have been earnestly busy with this theory for three weeks," he replied, "and am beginning to see some light." But what relevance, he asked, did it have to the business of Congress? "It may bear upon the legisaltion of the future as to the general relations with the cosmos.
As much as politicians' and politics' stupidity and hubris deserves to be pointed out, Einstein also performed poorly in realm outside his genius (original HT to Greg Mankiw). Debating John D. Rockefeller in 1930,
Einstein suggested that working hours to be shortened so that, at least in his understanding of economics, more people would have a chance to be employed.
D'oh.
By the way: The picture accompanying this post is the Albert Einstein Memorial in Washington, DC; I am baffled that I have not seen it despite its prominent location and my numerous trips to DC.
6 comments:
Hello. This post is likeable, and your blog is very interesting, congratulations :-). I will add in my blogroll =). If possible gives a last there on my site, it is about the CresceNet, I hope you enjoy. The address is http://www.provedorcrescenet.com . A hug.
Hello. This post is likeable, and your blog is very interesting, congratulations :-). I will add in my blogroll =). If possible gives a last there on my blog, it is about the Flores Online, I hope you enjoy. The address is http://flores-on-line.blogspot.com. A hug.
Tobias
Presumably your "d'oh" is with regard to Einstein's apparent commission of the "lump of labor fallacy". Last laugh is on you. The fallacy claim, to paraphrase Alan Greenspan, itself contains a flaw in its "model of how the world works."
AN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
IDENTITY POLITICS ON THE INTERNET
Hi guys! This Conference sounds to be great! They have very interesting panels on identity and a featured panel on Barak Obama and you can also make a real African Safari…
The Institute of Identity Research (IDmap) announces an international conference
on Identity Politics on the Internet to be held in Kenya on the 27th to 29th of
August 2009. The aim of the Conference is to create discourse in the area of
Identity politics on the Internet and other related topics.
The Conference will be graced by several leading scholars who have written and
researched extensively on issues of Identity. We hope that this conference will
result in solutions and better understanding of the problems facing issues of
identity in the contemporary context.
AN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
IDENTITY POLITICS ON THE INTERNET
August 27-29, 2009
Organized by Institute of Identity Research (IDmap)
www.idmap-conferences.net
Will be held in Amboseli Wildlife National Park, Kenya
Featured panel: Barack Obama' Election and Kenyan politics of Identity:
Will he identify himself with the World or with his People?
• The Dead line for submission of the Abstracts is 01.05.2009 (200-500 words)
in Word or PDF formats
• The Dead line for submission of full-text papers is 01.07.2009
Preliminary program of the Conference includes the following panels:
• Kenyan 2007 Presidential elections and the Internet
• Traditions and Identity in Kenyan politics: Barak Obama as a Luo
representative of Kenyan identity politics
• Facebook and Identity: do old ethnicity definitions still matter?
• World Identity politics: Case-studies and Comparative Analysis
• Parties and recruitment in the digital world
• Gender, ethnicity and empowerment: what is better to be a white man or a
black woman?
• When religion comes to the Internet: the new ways to build and reinforce
religious identity
• Government on the Internet: new ways to preserve Nation-state and its
identity on the Net
• New English and E-Linguistic: jargon and vocabulary of Internet campaigns
Participants are welcomed to join the following working groups:
• Computers and identity
• Culture and identity
• Mathematical expressions of identity
• Internet and Politics
• Internet Vocabulary
Best Identity MA/PhD Thesis work award:
During the conference the Institute will award the best MA/PhD work submitted
for the evaluation. The work should reveal an original and innovative approach
in the field of Identity with its expression on the Internet. Information
regarding submission procedure can be found on our site or through direct
contact of our Administrators.
www.idmap.net
Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now. Keep it up!
And according to this article, I totally agree with your opinion, but only this time! :)
what is the essence of the Congress?
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