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novapsycheRe: Janann and Einstein
Dear Janann,
Many times I have been told that I suffer from social retardation. I've given up defending myself from the charge, and will grant this point to anyone who wants to make it. OK, I'm socially retarded; I can't scan and correlate the numerous and quickly-changing variables in social dynmaics, I read body language badly, and I'm a lousy white-liar.
Therefore, I ask that you take this response as feedback from
the mouth of the archetypical Fool. I also ask that you not be offended, since the trouble with being a Fool is that you can be polite (i.e. shut up) or you can communicate (speak the truth) but you can never do both. I may be about to put my boot-print on my uvula, so I'm going to give you some spoiler space, to decide if you really want to read my response. You've been warned.
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I am worried about you. Your comments about Einstein's theory
of general relativity and E=MC squared, are incoherent and illogical. You seem to have had an epiphany of some sort, and I don't question the value and importance of any personal breakthrough or life-changing insight you've just experienced. However, your spiritual growth cannot have any connection whatsoever to Albert Einstein and that famous three-variable equation.
You aren't a physics and math person. It takes years of study for gifted people to fully appreciate what geniuses such as Albert
Einstein, Paul Dirac, and Stephen Hawking have contributed to mathematical physics. Insights regarding relativity, gravity, antimatter, and the Big Bang do NOT just come to someone through serendipity. Like triathalon medals, they have to be won through incredible talent, dedicated effort, and focus.
I'm not a physics person, either. I've read "The Dancing Wu Li
Masters" by Gary Zukav, "Fear of Physics" by Lawrence Krauss, and part of "Relativity and Common Sense" by Hermann Bondi. I haven't finished "About Time" by Paul Davies, which has some mention of relativity. Books that explain advanced physics in layman's terms depress me, and I read them out of feeling of duty. They're exhausting and painful, offering a glimpse of an intellectual world forever out of reach.
However, I know enough to see that your E+MC squared comments do not follow.
Making the world a better place has nothing to do with the conversion factor of energy to mass multiplied by the velocity of light in empty space, multiplied by itself. Relations with other people, idealogies (however enlightened), and social responsibility have nothing to do with why 186,000 km/second is the universal speed limit, why gravity diminishes with time, or why space can bend.
Perhaps you have indeed become enlightened. Perhaps you are the
Buddah. Just remember that the Buddah wasn't a physicist either, nor did he claim to be.
I am not trying to discourage you, only to say that I believe you have picked up E=MC squared as a visual tag to associate with an
insight you've just had, a sort of mental shorthand. It's understandable, but shouldn't be taken literally. I may believe that the gender-culture of women has to change radically in order for them to ever achieve their potential, but if sum it up by saying "Janeane Garofalo is the savior of mankind and the oracle of the new millenium," people are going to start wondering what
medications I should be on.
Before you go any further, take the advice of Socrates and quantify what it is that you *don't* know, to throw what you've learned into greater relief.
Sincerely,
Roger
Dear Janann,
Many times I have been told that I suffer from social retardation. I've given up defending myself from the charge, and will grant this point to anyone who wants to make it. OK, I'm socially retarded; I can't scan and correlate the numerous and quickly-changing variables in social dynmaics, I read body language badly, and I'm a lousy white-liar.
Therefore, I ask that you take this response as feedback from
the mouth of the archetypical Fool. I also ask that you not be offended, since the trouble with being a Fool is that you can be polite (i.e. shut up) or you can communicate (speak the truth) but you can never do both. I may be about to put my boot-print on my uvula, so I'm going to give you some spoiler space, to decide if you really want to read my response. You've been warned.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
I am worried about you. Your comments about Einstein's theory
of general relativity and E=MC squared, are incoherent and illogical. You seem to have had an epiphany of some sort, and I don't question the value and importance of any personal breakthrough or life-changing insight you've just experienced. However, your spiritual growth cannot have any connection whatsoever to Albert Einstein and that famous three-variable equation.
You aren't a physics and math person. It takes years of study for gifted people to fully appreciate what geniuses such as Albert
Einstein, Paul Dirac, and Stephen Hawking have contributed to mathematical physics. Insights regarding relativity, gravity, antimatter, and the Big Bang do NOT just come to someone through serendipity. Like triathalon medals, they have to be won through incredible talent, dedicated effort, and focus.
I'm not a physics person, either. I've read "The Dancing Wu Li
Masters" by Gary Zukav, "Fear of Physics" by Lawrence Krauss, and part of "Relativity and Common Sense" by Hermann Bondi. I haven't finished "About Time" by Paul Davies, which has some mention of relativity. Books that explain advanced physics in layman's terms depress me, and I read them out of feeling of duty. They're exhausting and painful, offering a glimpse of an intellectual world forever out of reach.
However, I know enough to see that your E+MC squared comments do not follow.
Making the world a better place has nothing to do with the conversion factor of energy to mass multiplied by the velocity of light in empty space, multiplied by itself. Relations with other people, idealogies (however enlightened), and social responsibility have nothing to do with why 186,000 km/second is the universal speed limit, why gravity diminishes with time, or why space can bend.
Perhaps you have indeed become enlightened. Perhaps you are the
Buddah. Just remember that the Buddah wasn't a physicist either, nor did he claim to be.
I am not trying to discourage you, only to say that I believe you have picked up E=MC squared as a visual tag to associate with an
insight you've just had, a sort of mental shorthand. It's understandable, but shouldn't be taken literally. I may believe that the gender-culture of women has to change radically in order for them to ever achieve their potential, but if sum it up by saying "Janeane Garofalo is the savior of mankind and the oracle of the new millenium," people are going to start wondering what
medications I should be on.
Before you go any further, take the advice of Socrates and quantify what it is that you *don't* know, to throw what you've learned into greater relief.
Sincerely,
Roger