
The World As I See It - An Essay by Einstein - nreece
http://www.aip.org/history/einstein/essay.htm?
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lionhearted
I voted up, because there's some beautiful thoughts and ideas in there, and
Einstein's an amazing man. However, I'm a bit scared by:

"The text of Albert Einstein's copyrighted essay, "The World As I See It," was
shortened for our Web exhibit."

This paragraph in particular seems awkward in the flow of the essay, and the
ellipses suggests the re-author/exhibitor is likely liberally oversimplifying
quite a bit:

"This topic brings me to that worst outcrop of herd life, the military system,
which I abhor... This plague-spot of civilization ought to be abolished with
all possible speed. Heroism on command, senseless violence, and all the
loathsome nonsense that goes by the name of patriotism -- how passionately I
hate them!"

I don't think anyone likes gung-ho destructive violent force, but most
rational thinkers understand that basic defense is necessary to at least some
extent. Or at least, it's been historically necessary in the past. I'm going
to guess Einstein's point was much more sophisticated and nuanced in the
original, unedited work.

Still a beautiful piece with beautiful ideas, but selective editing of great
thinkers always scares the hell out of me.

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validuser
> This topic brings me to that worst outcrop of the herd nature, the military
> system, which I abhor. That a man can take pleasure in marching in formation
> to the strains of a band is enough to make me despise him. He has only been
> given his big brain by mistake; a backbone was all he needed. This plague-
> spot of civilization ought to be abolished with all possible speed. Heroism
> by order, senseless violence, and all the pestilent nonsense that does by
> the name of patriotism--how I hate them! War seems to me a mean,
> contemptible thing: I would rather be hacked in pieces than take part in
> such an abominable business. And yet so high, in spite of everything, is my
> opinion of the human race that I believe this bogey would have disappeared
> long ago, had the sound sense of the nations not been systematically
> corrupted by commercial and political interests acting through the schools
> and the Press.

(found in <http://lib.ru/FILOSOF/EJNSHTEJN/theworld_engl.txt>)

~~~
lionhearted
Thanks for that - I do find that quote more interesting. The original
simplification sounded like, "Scrap the military, I hate it, it shouldn't
exist." Einstein's actual quote outlines that his disdain is for people who
_enjoy_ being part of the military herd system, which only still exists
because of political interests acting through the schools and the Press. The
simplification sounds like, "Scrap the military", the original is more along
the lines of "Military would've been gone except for government acting through
the schools and media" --> HUGE difference there, and I find Einstein's
unedited/un"simplified" far more insightful.

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spoiledtechie
My favorite quote of his.

"My political ideal is democracy. Let every man be respected as an individual
and no man idolized. It is an irony of fate that I myself have been the
recipient of excessive admiration and reverence from my fellow-beings, through
no fault, and no merit, of my own. The cause of this may well be the desire,
unattainable for many, to understand the few ideas to which I have with my
feeble powers attained through ceaseless struggle."

No man should be idolized. Much of what we do today in our society...

~~~
TweedHeads
Off topic or maybe not, but I've never understood monarchy and how it still
survives in the 21st century and how people bow before the king/queen.

A friend once told me monarchy is a kind of religion and we should respect
them for that alone.

Fuck religion then, as well as the military and the monarchies.

~~~
run4yourlives
Bowing to the head of state is more done out of respect than any religious
duty.

And before you get all high and mighty on the monarchists, keep in mind that
many people currently feel the same sort of reverence to the current
president. Even worse, many feel this towards the latest hollywood starlet.

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jmtame
i have read many papers on einstein, and i'm fascinated by him. he has some of
the most interesting philosophies on life, but it's a bit frustrating because
he's an easy person to take out of context. lots of people will grab a
sentence or two just to try and prove a point.

particularly the atheist crowd will often take einstein quotes and use them to
say "you see? even einstein doesn't believe in all that nonsense!" i would
probably consider myself pretty far from religion (even though i was raised a
nazarene christian from birth), but what einstein is describing as his
"religious belief" is pretty nicely summed in that last paragraph. i've read
essay-length papers on his views on religion, but overall he is a pretty
humble person toward many things in life.

i have only one poster on my wall right now in my apartment, and it's of
einstein (there's a difference between idolization and admiration).

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jonmc12
An ideal for democracy, a hate for war, and a hate for those whose reality and
religiosity exclude the vast beauty of the knowledge we can not yet observe.

I have a feeling if Einstein had been alive today, enduring the Bush
administration may have killed his soul.

~~~
jhancock
Einstein lived through Nazi Germany. His soul saw a lot of action.

~~~
jonmc12
Yea, stupid comment. How do I downvote myself? :)

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k0n2acl
The book is a pretty good read as well: [http://www.amazon.com/World-As-I-
See/dp/1599868245/ref=sr_1_...](http://www.amazon.com/World-As-I-
See/dp/1599868245/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1236087399&sr=8-1)

