Okay, and before I enrage anybody else, Einstein was one of my childhood heroes and inspirations, and still is. We can't say that, categorically, all scientists working outside of their realm of expertise produce bullshit, but it notably has happened.
You really read that essay and think "bullshit"? I don't happen to agree with most of the conclusions but I also don't dismiss an argument simply because it uses a single scary word.
> We can't say that, categorically, all scientists working outside of their realm of expertise produce bullshit, but it notably has happened.
Perhaps it has, but Einstein supporting socialism isn't an example of that. Coming out with "herb, derp, socialism is bad, m'kay" smacks of tea party logic. The question is vastly more complex than that. The US has quite a bit of "socialism" and has for a very long time.
Related: if you want to complain that the guy's argument is nonsense, just complain that it's nonsense. There's no need to bring a perceived political orientation into it. The only thing your "tea party" comment does is adds a level of emotional polarization, much like his "socialism" comment before. Please keep such emotional baggage off of hacker news.
>There's no need to bring a perceived political orientation into it.
People need to understand what they're saying. If this guy is going to come on here with an out-of-the-blue judgment on an abstract concept someone needs to point out that he's being simple minded. And in the group most likely to have this particular ignorant behavior are, in fact, the tea party.
>Please keep such emotional baggage off of hacker news.
He brought the emotional baggage here so I stepped up to say it's not welcome in clear and unambiguous terms. If people want to vote us both into the gray I'm good with that. The OP is not getting away with silent contempt from me. Not on hacker news.
Then why post a nonsensical stab at socialism? It screams of simple mindedness and heavy partisan politics (your comment wouldn't even make sense in most of Europe where the politics doesn't get to such ridiculous levels of rhetoric like it does in the states).
Okay, and before I enrage anybody else, Einstein was one of my childhood heroes and inspirations, and still is. We can't say that, categorically, all scientists working outside of their realm of expertise produce bullshit, but it notably has happened.