Einstein vs. the brains of today...

[M617]

I was having a debate with a friend of mine and I said Einstein didnt have half the smarts of todays greats who are at Nasa or fighting diseases or basically anyone really making changes in this world aka the geniuses of today as Einstein was in his day

how can someone in the early 1900's have the brain power the brightest educated of today with all the knowledge we have now

is Einstein really shyt but a name now?

 

[Type Username Here]

I was having a debate with a friend of mine and I said Einstein didnt have half the smarts of todays greats who are at Nasa or fighting diseases or basically anyone really making changes in this world aka the geniuses of today as Einstein was in his day

how can someone in the early 1900's have the brain power the brightest educated of today with all the knowledge we have now

is Einstein really shyt but a name now?

I honestly think you need to go read exactly what Einstein did. Read in the context of Newtonian (classical) physics. Even something he was wrong about, Quantum mechanics, was in part based on his early findings.

 

[M617]

I honestly think you need to go read exactly what Einstein did. Read in the context of Newtonian (classical) physics. Even something he was wrong about, Quantum mechanics, was in part based on his early findings.

im not trying to say Einstein was a hack or anything and im sure and aware of his impact but based on knowledge gained over the last 30 years or so and the great young minds using that knowledge i think its safe to say they have him beat. he lived "back in the day" and was great but rare. now we have so many great minds thinking learning new discoveries daily. i dont see how a guy with 70 years less of knowledge could compete because lets be real someone else would have figured that shyt out

 

[godkiller]

I tend to agree with you. There are probably people about as technically intelligent or moreso than Einstein. The problem with comparing Einstein to a genius in today's society is that we don't know how they'd fair if we asked them to do what Einstein did when he made his discoveries. However we do know that other scientists in Einstein's time came up with similar physics theories, and advanced the science without as much fanfare or notoriety. I remember Einstein needed a mathmetician to do advanced calculation for him, implying he couldn't do all of it himself. There are genius PhD holders with degrees in math and physics today who I believe would never have needed the same assistance.

I think that many smart people today could come up with the theory of relativity if it wasn't yet discovered. Similarly I think many smart people could devise nuclear weapons if they hadn't already been developed.

 

[Type Username Here]

im not trying to say Einstein was a hack or anything and im sure and aware of his impact but based on knowledge gained over the last 30 years or so and the great young minds using that knowledge i think its safe to say they have him beat. he lived "back in the day" and was great but rare. now we have so many great minds thinking learning new discoveries daily. i dont see how a guy with 70 years less of knowledge could compete because lets be real someone else would have figured that shyt out

It's not all about knowledge though breh. You have to have a philosophical/imagination component to go with that knowledge. Einstein and Newton, along with others, had that.

I'll give you an example that was explained to me using that Newton's apple myth:

Any man can see an apple falling and realize that there might be a force causing the apple to fall towards the earth, but it took someone special (two actually, Newton/Hooke) to realize that not only is that force pulling the apple towards the earth, but that same force is pulling the earth towards the apple (law of universal gravitation oversimplified).

 

[godkiller]

It's not all about knowledge though breh. You have to have a philosophical/imagination component to go with that knowledge. Einstein and Newton, along with others, had that.

I'll give you an example that was explained to me using that Newton's apple myth:

Any man can see an apple falling and realize that there might be a force causing the apple to fall towards the earth, but it took someone special to realize that not only is that force pulling the apple towards the earth, but that same force is pulling the earth towards the apple (law of universal gravitation oversimplified).

Frankly I think the later one is born the history, the more difficult it becomes to find and summarize natural laws. As time wanes on, natural laws become less obvious and more obscure as scientists latch unto the low hanging fruit. Eventually all that's left is the fruit at the very top of the tree. I think Newton had it easier than Einstein since his discovery was more low-hanging fruit than Einstein's was. However I could be wrong. Maybe Newton and Einstein would be the same geniuses they were today if given the same education and knowledge the geniuses of today have.

 

[Type Username Here]

Frankly I think the later one is born the history, the more difficult it becomes to find and summarize natural laws since fewer and fewer of these laws exist as humanity advances. In other words, I think Newton had it easier than Einstein since his discovery was more low-hanging fruit than Einstein's was.

Agreed but it doesn't make it any less remarkable. I also think that as we go on we open a new perspective where there exists laws that have yet to be described.

 

[ill]

Its not just his knowledge but the way that he thought. The way his brain worked would be at the upper echelon of society in any time period. Its hard to fathom how tremendous his thinking abilities really are.

 

[godkiller]

Agreed but it doesn't make it any less remarkable. I also think that as we go on we open a new perspective where there exists laws that have yet to be described.

I believe older discoveries were less remarkable because 1) fewer people were alive back then and thus fewer brilliant people existed to compete and 2) many of the discoveries were more low hanging fruit than perhaps future discoveries might be. Darwin's discovery, for example, was also made by another guy around the same time. So even then there were brilliant people coming up with the same theories. In today's world there are many more educated people. That said, it could be that Einstein would be just as brilliant today.

 

[Amestafuu (Emeritus)]

I was having a debate with a friend of mine and I said Einstein didnt have half the smarts of todays greats who are at Nasa or fighting diseases or basically anyone really making changes in this world aka the geniuses of today as Einstein was in his day

how can someone in the early 1900's have the brain power the brightest educated of today with all the knowledge we have now

is Einstein really shyt but a name now?

Between this and your obsession with black penis u better be trolling man

 

[M617]

Between this and your obsession with black penis u better be trolling man

im not obsessed with any penis i just make opinions on matters. im not trolling. im pretty sure i could find an MIT student with the brains or better of Einstein seriously

 

[Type Username Here]

I believe older discoveries were less remarkable because 1) fewer people were alive back then and thus fewer brilliant people existed to compete and 2) many of the discoveries were more low hanging fruit than perhaps future discoveries might be. Darwin's discovery, for example, was also made by another guy around the same time. So even then there were brilliant people coming up with the same theories. In today's world there are many more educated people. That said, it could be that Einstein would be just as brilliant today.

By points)

1) That doesn't make sense. Wouldn't it be somewhat proportional?

2) Like I said earlier, doors always open with every new discovery. Einstein corrected Newtonian physics problems, but his discoveries led to quantum mechanics/physics and there are a shyt load of unanswered questions still there.

3) Being educated is great, but like I was saying, that's only one component. You have to know how to "dream" in someways. You have to integrate philosophy with the science and try to derive something from that. Not everyone can do that.

 

[godkiller]

Its not just his knowledge but the way that he thought. The way his brain worked would be at the upper echelon of society in any time period. Its hard to fathom how tremendous his thinking abilities really are.

Richard Feynman was also a brilliant dude who made physics discoveries, As are plenty of Physics Nobel Prize winners. There are prodigies all over the USA from all walks of life.

 

[ill]

Richard Feynman was also a brilliant dude who made physics discoveries, As are plenty of Physics Nobel Prize winners. There are prodigies all over the USA from all walks of life.

I'm not downplaying their accomplishments. I'm just saying Einstein was one of the most brilliant minds in the history of humankind. He wouldn't have any issue going toe to toe with anyone from our generation.

 

[heisenburrr]

I believe older discoveries were less remarkable because 1) fewer people were alive back then and thus fewer brilliant people existed to compete and 2) many of the discoveries were more low hanging fruit than perhaps future discoveries might be. Darwin's discovery, for example, was also made by another guy around the same time. So even then there were brilliant people coming up with the same theories. In today's world there are many more educated people. That said, it could be that Einstein would be just as brilliant today.

People in his field that are referred to as genius these days have been educated with thoughts & theories that are derivated from Einstein's lifework.

Genius is not a matter of putting numbers and equations together. It's reaching thinking prowess, deductive abilities and imagination that transcend normal humans capacities.

A bunch of scholars right now might have more applied knowledge than Einstein could've had but his brain's connection patterns is what made him unique.

It is such a hard thing to quantify but by no means would Einstein be or was just another guy.