Re: Obama, U.S. President #44

On Tue, 27 Jan 2009 23:39:21 -0800, "DGDevin"
<dgdevin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

RS wrote:

Didn't you really want to post this?:

"It was, of course, a lie what you read about my religious
convictions, a lie which is being systematically repeated. I
do not believe in a personal God and I have never denied this
but have expressed it clearly. If something is in me which can
be called religious then it is the unbounded admiration for
the structure of the world so far as our science can reveal it."
--Albert Einstein

Is this part of a series? I figure if Einstein's views on religion or
economics are useful then we'll want to know what prominent economists or
theologians of the day thought about physics. As for Einstein, can a guy
who can't even make his marriage work really be trusted to figure out how
all of society should be organized?

Remember that 'prominent theologians' would include the Haggarts,
Swaggarts, Falwells, Robertsons, Bakkers, etc. 'Organizers of
society' would include some politicians who are much worse. Can't
speak for economists, but I presume they're in the same boat. So
Einstein's marriage is probably rather run of the mill. He'd have to
do something much worse to qualify for televangelist.

The link between physics and religion is natural though. Both are
looking for answers to the question of reality, and theologians have
indeed tried to make the most of modern physics research, especially
after the zen-like weirdness of quantum physics. (See Capra's "Tao of
Physics" and a slew of others). Now if it were only as easy to fake
complex math as it is to fake religious inspiration.

Despite the tough math, physicists tend to have a more modest
presentation, as opposed to the high profile religious nuts, anyway,
who always have the One True Method for Salvation.

You may have been at least a bit facetious about all of that, but
yeah, I'd trust Einstein on religion more than the average theologian,
and he had at least as much common sense and insight on other subjects
as our prominent aga economists. <g>

He must have known that himself when he
declined the post of leader of Israel, stating he had, "neither the natural
ability nor the experience to deal with human beings."

That's different from understanding what makes things tick though.
There are brilliant theoretical physicists who didn't even have 'the
natural ability or experience' to work in an experimental physics lab,
(J.J.Thompson, discoverer of the electron, was known for being a bull
in a china shop). So interacting with humans might be a stretch in
the same sense. Theoretical insight doesn't necessarily equate to the
ability to shake hands and kiss babies.

Besides, I hear he played a lousy guitar.

I think he was 2nd violin in his string quartet, but that's still very
tough. Ever try to play in tune near the top of a violin's range? They
really should put frets on those things.

.

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