Obviously the point of this quote is that we have very destructive weapons available today, ones capable of leveling society. But he's clearly trying to say this common, obvious truth in maxim form, so that it will resonate for years to come. This was a very popular practice with German intellectuals of that era (which he probably picked up from Schopenhauer, his personal favorite -- btw a man who was much more intelligent, in general, than Einstein), but he screwed it up. Why on earth would there ever be a WWIV fought with "sticks and stones"? It's absurd to imagine that a society with prehistoric technology could ever somehow wage a "World War."
Last night I read through a lot of his other quotes (http://www.heartquotes.net/Einstein.html) and, outside of his specialty, it would seem he was a very average thinker. He'll make a very good observation:
and draw a silly conclusion in his very next sentence:
You are ALWAYS restricted to your "personal desires and ... affection for a few persons nearest to" you. If you want to pretend like you have compassion for everyone, that is because you have the PERSONAL DESIRE to do so, and whether or not that is a good idea is not a given, as he seems to think it is. Sure, you probably want to pretend like you have everyone's best interest in mind, so that history spares your reputation when you develop a bomb that ends up killing millions of people, if not EVERYONE!
As I said before, certainly Einstein was one of the most gifted physicists in history, but that doesn't mean he was on some sort of next level-intellectual plane in general. Because his inventions had serious implications for all of humanity, his intellect seems that much greater. But most of the great specialist minds in history have had serious lapses of judgment when they start talking about general matters, which we are all qualified to discuss.
err, no. the great minds dont generally have lapses of judgement on general matters. you need to capture context, and state of mind of certain statements.
einstein is widely recognised to have a high IQ for starters- was capable of thinking others couldnt dream of, and was eccentric...meaning that he was at times, odd.
and generally- a much higher chance than joe public, these thinkers do have superior thinking in all facets.
please post what nasser insights have eluded genius mathematicians etc....im sure we'd all like to see what sort of thoughts elude these god given superhumans.
