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 Thu Feb 28, 2008 18:47 pm Can you think like Einstein? |
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Ahmadov
The first time I read that quote, I couldn't help but think that it was an example of Einstein's ironic humor. After all, if everything has already been made as simple as possible, isn't it logically impossible to make anything any simpler?
I later read that the quote is actually a paraphrase of something (less simple) that Einstein said.
In case you're interested, here are a few other quotes attributed to Einstein:
- "If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?"
- "The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax."
- "If the facts don't fit the theory, change the facts."
- "What really interests me is whether God had any choice in the creation of the world."
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Amy
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Yankee
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| Thu Feb 28, 2008 18:55 pm Can you think like Einstein? |
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Hi Amy,
Here is another quote I find interesting although this one is not attributed to Einstein but to Ed Foreman: "The mind is never blank, if it were how would we know?"
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Torsten
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| Thu Feb 28, 2008 19:04 pm Can you think like Einstein? |
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He had a point. 
Here is another Einstein quote -- one about relativity:
"When you sit with a nice girl for two hours, it seems like two minutes. When you sit on a hot stove for two minutes, it seems like two hours. That's relativity."
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Amy
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| Fri Feb 29, 2008 9:49 am Can you think like Einstein? |
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| Ok, going back to the quote I posted I just wanted to understand where the border between the simple and the simpler... Does anyone know? |
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Ahmadov
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| Fri Feb 29, 2008 18:03 pm Can you think like Einstein? |
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I'm not sure I understand your question, Ahmadov.
Did you only want to know whether simple has (or should have) comparative and superlative forms?
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Amy
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| Fri Feb 29, 2008 18:59 pm Can you think like Einstein? |
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| Ahmadov wrote: | | Ok, going back to the quote I posted I just wanted to understand where the border between the simple and the simpler... Does anyone know? |
I think he meant that things should be made as simple as possible, but not oversimplified. If you oversimplify, you lose some of the substance of what you're presenting. |
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Jamie (K)
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| Mon Mar 03, 2008 12:39 pm Can you think like Einstein? |
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| Yankee wrote: | I'm not sure I understand your question, Ahmadov.
Did you only want to know whether simple has (or should have) comparative and superlative forms?
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Well, I think I meant something different. For instance, when you say something was simplified, how do you know that that particular thing was not oversimplified or vice versa, when you say something was oversimplified, how do you know that that particular thing was not just simplified.
I just think the border is not clear, which makes that Einstein quote a tad invalid.
I can give you examples if you think I still failed to make my point clear.
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Ahmadov
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| Mon Mar 03, 2008 14:14 pm Can you think like Einstein? |
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There's no clear dividing line as to when something has been simplified and when it has been oversimplified. However, things that are oversimplified become untrue, whereas something that is merely simplified will still retain its truth.
This is why, for example, one of the most effective types of lie is one that is an oversimplification and takes a complicated answer to refute. People tend to believe whatever's simple, and they think that the complicated answer is a lie, even though it's true.
Also, one of the funniest ways to joke is almost the same thing. You oversimplify something and get the person to argue back. |
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Jamie (K)
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| Mon Mar 03, 2008 15:24 pm Can you think like Einstein? |
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| Ahmadov wrote: | | Yankee wrote: | I'm not sure I understand your question, Ahmadov.
Did you only want to know whether simple has (or should have) comparative and superlative forms?
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Well, I think I meant something different. For instance, when you say something was simplified, how do you know that that particular thing was not oversimplified or vice versa, when you say something was oversimplified, how do you know that that particular thing was not just simplified.
I just think the border is not clear, which makes that Einstein quote a tad invalid.
I can give you examples if you think I still failed to make my point clear. |
I gave you my opinion of the quote in my very first post, and in essence, it was not really that much different from what you've just written. When you asked again, I then thought you possibly wanted some other type of answer.
By the way, I'd just like to repeat that it is my understanding that your quote is a (simplified) paraphrase of something Einstein actually said. So, perhaps the person who paraphrased over-simplified Einstein's words. 
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| Mon Mar 03, 2008 15:45 pm Can you think like Einstein? |
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I think you both helped me much to understand the quote. By the way, I started thinking about that quote after I attepmted to solve this puzzle.
One of these words is not like the others,
One of these words just doesn't belong.
Can you tell which word is not like the others,
1. Evening
2. Growth
3. Center
4. Exist
5. Magnet
6. Venom
I resorted to a very simple solution, but I did not know whether that solution was an oversimplified one.
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Ahmadov
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| Mon Mar 03, 2008 16:04 pm Can you think like Einstein? |
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Did you by any chance pick 'exist'?
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Amy
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| Mon Mar 03, 2008 22:34 pm Can you think like Einstein? |
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Hi, Amy
You picked "exist" because it is a verb and the rest are nouns, didn't you?  |
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lost_soul
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| Tue Mar 04, 2008 7:45 am Can you think like Einstein? |
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Great minds think alike.
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Amy
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| Tue Mar 04, 2008 9:10 am Can you think like Einstein? |
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| Yankee wrote: | | Did you by any chance pick 'exist'? |
No, I did not and that is not the right answer. The answer I gave was also wrong. I want you and other people try to solve it and then I will return back to that Einstein quote...
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