Vladimir,

This is a clever idea, a conversation hard to create effectively, as you did.

I have read much about Einstein and a little bit of his essay, "The World as I Know it," and wonder if he would rail against all humans like "the sharp razor in the hands of a three-year-old."

In "The World as I know it," his ideal is democracy, letting every man/woman exercise free will, as I remember it. Did he have a streak of pessimism, "Chaos always winning out?" Certainly he was against military uses of technology as you mention.

Good job on a difficult task. I'm not sure representing Einstein accurately (attitude and words) is the priority in "steering us" through an imaginary conversation. Certainly the criticism he speaks are steps in the right direction.

Best wishes,

Jim

4 days later

Dear Jim

Thank you for your nice comments. As I mentioned in a footnote, the essay benefitted from the contributions of an anonymous co-author. The quote you objected to is by him, and I plead ignorance of the source of its origin. Having said that, and with Einstein's "infinite stupidity" quote about human capability at its worst, the quote is not so far-fetched. Particularly with his known worries about atomic weapon proliferation in mind.

Yes putting words in Einstein's mouth poses some questions. Was he a pessimis? Hmm food for thought. More importantly we the living can benefit from the wisdom, experience and mistakes of those great ones who went before us.

Good luck to you..and to us all.

Vladimir

7 days later

Hi.Its been a long time since I read what Einstein actually said about Poincare's or Lorentz's prior discoveries in relativity so please take what I wrote with a grain of salt. More serious than the question of priority is the long and winding road reaching a dead end that Einstein took physics: By denying the ether and by making space and time flexible and c constant a priori he demolished the possibility of Lorentz' relativity in absolute space and time with a maximum of c but a variable speed of light. Read my fqxi essay Fix Physics for more along these lines.

    Delightful essay! - witty, well-informed, and sane.

    Dear Roger,

    While I agree on that Vladimir Tamari's essay is a delightful homage on the nice place called heaven in general and Pentcho Valev's divine Einstein in particular, I cannot see how these sweet ideals will steer mankind in a reasonable manner. On the contrary, traditional belief might be part of the problem rather than the solution. I see no pill, at best a placebo and for my taste too much of sugar.

    That's why you might check what I found out (2021) about H. Poincaré and Kuratowski's Ghost who lives in South Africa.

    Regards,

    Eckard

    I am not sure what you think was a dead end, but Lorentz used a constant speed of light, and Einstein got that directly from Lorentz.

    Roger a constant and maximum speed of light in vacuume does result from the Lorentz transformations, but imposing it ipso facto leads to trouble, as Einstein himself discovered when he realized that light speed decreases in a gravitational field. Basing GR on flexi-space and time as dimensions has made gravity too complicated. In an absolute time and space gravity can probably be described simply as the result of local density and twisting gradients in an ether. Worse is Einstein's photon as a point particle concept the innocent-looking idea - now experimentally disproven by Eric Reiter - that has created duality and the conceptual logjam that has bedevilled physics since the 1920's.

    Dear Eckard

    I could understand how you might have found Einstein's heaven too saccharine for your taste. I may have sugared the pill too heavily because if you read between the lines you can see that I am saying "even Einstein" could not find a solution. I am not sure I would call Einstein divine - I certainly disagree with his physics but admire him as a man who believed in peace. At the same time I recognize that humanity should try to learn from all sources available, including religious and moral ideals, however badly we have misapplied them. I see we were born in the same year, and therefore I will happily check out your essay!

    Best,

    Vladimir

    Dear Vladimir,

    I got the impression that a more cosmologically and belief-oriented part of fqxi community favors rather mystical, illusory, and mathematical speculative answers to the question of how to steer humanity in contrast to the more practically oriented attitudes of you, Jonathan, and me.

    Roger might have overlooked my hints because he can perhaps not accept that I am questioning absolutely infinite physically items. Well, I was one of very few nobodies until Hawking recently corrected himself and Jonathan got aware of related theoretical arguments by Kauffmann.

    You certainly know that Roger called Einstein overestimated. I merely collected some less celebrated facts and leave the judgment to the readers. What about pacifists like Einstein and Bertrand Russell, I would like to tell that the latter suggested a preventive war against the territory occupied by the Soviet Army including Magdeburg, the city where I am living. That's why I prefer and quoted Otto von Bismarck who also prudently built (more than one hundred years ago) a bypass to the main stream of the river Elbe that up to now protected Magdeburg against flooding. Bismarck called a preventive war a suicide for fear to die. An tragic parallel was Goedel who deliberately starved and actually died for fear to get poisoned.

    I would very much appreciate if you or someone else took issue concerning a fundamental question that I consider unresolved in current physics not just since and by Einstein; the past cannot be steered while the future is open and only partially predictable.

    As a boy, I learned to pray in humility. Meanwhile I see religions often the problem rather than the solution. Suicide bombers were told getting rewarded by virgins in heaven. The bad ones are always the enemies, the non-believers.

    Best,

    Eckard

    Thanks Eckard I have looked at Google map of Magdeburg and could see some man-made channels or canals parallel to the river are these the ones Bismarck planned? My knowledge of German history is quite limited and the reputation that Bismarck as a warmonger seems to be ill-deserved. I do like his mustache and the delta function atop his helmet, though.

    Perhaps Bertrand Russell sat down and calculated the cost of waging war vs not doing so. As did Harry Truman calculating the cost of dropping the A-bomb on Hiroshima vs not doing so. All that I can say is that great men come in a variety of sizes and shapes, and it is not easy to judge just by their reputation. The overblown reputation of Einstein as a physicist is a case in point. As to suicide bombing all parties involved now seem to have realized how counterproductive these desperate acts are, however justified they seem to be by the overwhelming injustice that made them a last-resort option.

    Peace!

    Vladimir

    Thank you dear Jayakar

    Things are developing so fast in all the sciences one does not know where to look..physics, astronomy, biology, and each branch inspires ever newer tehnologfical advantages. As you say healthcare is mnost important. Including mental health as a new generation grows up staring at iphones and tablets!

    The question of time is fascinating, but there is not much we can do about it. Things change, and in keeping track of these changes we use clocks and other devices. However according to many physicsists and my own Beautiful Universe theory, time as a dimension does not exist.

    If we realize that it will remind us not to live in the past, nor fear the future, but to have peace, and try our best to do good in the now.

    Best,

    Vladimir

    Very happy to see you

    You was change the style compared to the previous times, but that still very interesting essay.

    Best wishes with the highest score for the passion and enthusiasm of you

    Hải.CaoHoàng

    Hello Hoang cao

    how are you?

    Thank you for your kind comment. I will see if you have an essay!

    Good luck

    Vladimir

    Dear Vladimir,

    Many thanks for an extremely interesting essay! Humor and deep fantasy is very necessary to address the issues the future of Umanity. I hope that physics and poetry together solve the major problems of our time, created by the people themselves.

    I wish you good luck!

    All the Best,

    Vladimir

      I really enjoyed this essay because it was quite imaginative and entertaining. On the c-constant, I would have to say that it is an Energy Constant but not a light-speed constant. The Aether exists as the work of Maxwell (if not Lorentz and Faraday) is based upon it. The equations using the Parameters of Space have a deep connection to the Aether for which those parameters define. Einstein's work wasn't without flaw. He never mathematically finished the equation of Special Relativity and his Theory of General Relativity was incorrect. He had half the equation of General Relativity correct (his initially derived equation), but the Riemann Geometry was wrong. I have found that gravitation is due to dipolar, rotational kinetic-energy. I discovered that when I figured out what the 8PI in Einstein's Field Equation represented. I linked the right-hand side of Einstein's Field Equation with Ampère's Force Law. I believe that this integration of Gravity and an Electromagnetic Force Law is the Unified Field Equation. You can read my essay "How Should Himanity Steer the Future? by Stephen Tuck" for more information.

      Dear Vladmir

      A truely intresting essay and fun to read.I have a question though. Given a chance to enter heaven wouldn't one aim his thought provoking and foundational question on life the universe and everything seen and unseen at THE CREATOR Himself?!

        Vladimir,

        Great to see you back, and you certainly still know how to make an essay stand out. After reading a few essays brevity is also now becoming a pluspoint!

        You subtly make a good number of good points without labouring anything. I think the most important may be reminding all that the; "observer has a limitless capacity for stupidity".

        That alone is worth a bunch of credits as it's just as true now as when he said it! I'm losing a little conviction that it will ever change.

        I'll value your comments on mine as I hope it's seminal this year. Few people seem to know Bob and Alice that well so I hope it'll show them in a good light through their work.

        Very best wishes.

        Peter

          Thank you Peter - another explanation for the mistakes humans make is that the problem is intractable, yet they are doing their best. Seen from another point of view or in hindsight it may appear as an act of almost deliberate foolishness. The human factor in steering the future has been more optimistically reviewed in Sabine's essay. I will read yours - and yes I have heard of Bob and Alice the star-crossed lovers that are forever entangled but can never meet!

          Best,

          Vladimir