Einstein Letter Goes on Sale 615
ErkDemon writes "For any Slashdotters who want a piece of frameable Einstein memorabilia, a letter from A.E. to Eric Gutkind goes on sale at Bloomsbury Auctions today (May 15th). The content of the letter mostly deals with Einstein's views on religion. (Einstein pronounces himself rather unimpressed by the whole idea and rejects it as "childish.") The Guardian has printed a translated excerpt from the letter."
Absolutely not. (Score:2, Funny)
Physicists don't usually think about why things are, they only think about how things work.
So a physicist can explain the math behind quantum entanglement but a physicist cannot explain why math is capable of solving all the mysteries of the universe.
I'm getting a degree in philosophy so I can explain.
And if you think you can challenge my philosophy go ahead.
1. God is self awareness.
2. When an entity, individual or species becomes more self aware, they become closer to God. As a result, their science gets better, their math gets better, and their self awareness allows them to organize all the information of the universe, thus they become the programmers of the universe.
3. The universe only exists in the minds of the self aware. Self awareness perceived the universe into existence, and this was the cause of the big bang.
4. The universe cannot exist independently of self awareness. Self awareness is existence, and when the universe becomes more self aware it becomes more real. When you become more self aware you become more real.
5. All which is not self aware, is not real, it's junk information, it's noise, it's fake, it's illusion.
This means, life is real if it's aware of itself. Humans and most mammals are real. Rocks, dirt, sand, dust, mud, minerals and all which is not self aware, is the junk/noise of the universe. It's simply information which wouldn't exist at all without our perception to perceive it into existence and classify it.
This means the observer is the universe. This means that due to non-locality, distance and space are illusions. This means time/change is energy. And energy is conciousness/self awareness.
The eye/ears/brain simply organizes that energy so that it can become aware of itself. But there is no universe outside of that energy of awareness.
Re:Well... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Absolutely not. (Score:2, Funny)
PErhaps self awareness existed on the particle level before the 3d universe big banged itself into existence. Perhaps the existence of the 3d universe was a result of self awareness of the 2d.
And since you believe all new age philosophy to be crap, you are probably a closed minded athiest so why does it matter how I came up with my opinion?
But if you want me to make it simple, nothing exists outside of our minds. You only think that stuff exists but you have no way to actually prove anything exists prior to perception. The latest experiments in quantum mechanics prove that the observer is what causes existence.
The double slit experiment is one example of this, and if you look it up on Google you'll see it.
Basically I don't believe the universe exists independent of the observer. And if you somehow do believe the universe can exist independent on the observer then the burden is on you to prove something can exist without being observed by anything in the universe.
You are confused. (Score:3, Funny)
In other words, you believe in magic. But we can easily experimentally verify this state of affairs.
I put you inside a dark room, completely and utterly dark, so that most of your perception is disabled. What you don't know is that there is a hole in the floor of the room : but no worries, nobody is aware of the hole, and it isn't aware of itself : so you won't fall through it.
The same argument athiests use to try and explain how there isnt a God because we can't collectively perceive of a God, is the exact argument I'm using to prove that nothing exists without being perceived into existence.
If you believe a hole can exist without anything perceiving it, then you believe the universe exist independently of perception, and if you believe that then you are relying completely on faith.
What I'm saying is, if there is nothing in the universe to perceive of a room, there will be no such thing as rooms, or holes. You just assume these ideas exist outide of the mind we think with on pure faith alone. You assume the physical universe can exist outside of the mind even when there has never been any evidence of anything existing outside of universal perception and thought.
Re:How can nature be dead (Score:3, Funny)
You know what, screw this; I'm not staying in this semantic labyrinth. Make a better one. Give it some cushy pillows, a chumby [chumby.com], and an Apple TV. Make a chocolate cheesecake with a heath bar crust. Bring some playing cards. Maybe, just maybe, I'll stick around a little longer. Until then, you get to remain a lonely fuckin' minotaur.
Re:Absolutely not. (Score:5, Funny)
Please, sir! It is well accepted that Philosophers are permitted a certain amount of hand waving. This one appears to be waving only his right hand, curled into a tubular shape, vigorously about his nether regions.
Re:Well... (Score:4, Funny)
That would explain why the live-size Julius Caesar brass bust recently discovered in the south of France was underwater.
Re:Well... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Views on Religion? (Score:3, Funny)
When person A comes to visit his neighbour and sees him lying in a pool of blood and shrieks "Oh my God!", does that mean that person A is religious, too?
This is why I always yell "Oh my Buddha!" whenever I happen to be lying in a pool of blood (not necessarily my own). To confuse people into thinking that Buddha is just another god in some religion.
Re:Well... (Score:3, Funny)
I don't need a fancy-schmancy degree, I have the real world experience of having a sweet tooth the size of Alaska!
Re:Well... (Score:5, Funny)