Can you think like Einstein?

[Ahmadov]

What does this quote by Albert Einstein mean to you?

Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.
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Learning is a sacred engagement.

[Yankee]

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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[Torsten]

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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Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Yankee]

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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[Ahmadov]

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?
_________________
Learning is a sacred engagement.

[Yankee]

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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[Jamie (K)]

[Ahmadov]

[Jamie (K)]

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.

[Yankee]

[Ahmadov]

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.
_________________
Learning is a sacred engagement.

[Yankee]

Did you by any chance pick 'exist'?

[Lost_Soul]

Hi, Amy

You picked "exist" because it is a verb and the rest are nouns, didn't you?

[Yankee]

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Great minds think alike.
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[Ahmadov]