Relatively Speaking
Overheard conversation:
"I think Einstein was an even greater philosopher than scientist."
"I agree. Look at relativity. It's a statement about how things are, but it's not like something you can prove."
Really? I suppose relativity has philosophical ramifications, but it is a scientific theory, not just some general (or special) belief. And even if you can't precisely prove it, it is a theory that makes specific predictions about the physical world that are consistent with all experimental results I'm aware of.
posted by LAGuy @ 12:12 AM
3 Comments:
It might be mistaken, but that was one high class conversation.
There are an awful lot of people out there who think that Einstein proved that "everything is relative", or that quantum mechanics proves that "nothing is certain".
And some of them are sociologists, philosophers, and theologians who don't understand any science, but use words like "relativity" and "quantum" to make their readers (who don't understand science either) believe they are saying something meaningful.
No, quantum mechanics is the stuff ESP is made out of.
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