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Einstein's God: Conversations About Science

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Illness or Identity? Differing Views on Being Transgender

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Andrew Solomon, author of “The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression” discusses his research on the blurring border between illness and identity. He highlights the cases of transgender children in religious communities, and explores how religion can be both beneficial and traumatic.
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Encyclopædia Britannica Article

Einstein, Albert: Albert Einstein.Courtesy of the Nobelstiftelsen, Stockholm(born March 14, 1879, Ulm, Württemberg, Ger.—died April 18, 1955, Princeton, N.J., U.S.) German-born Swiss-U.S. scientist. Born to a Jewish family in Germany, he grew up in Munich, and in 1894 he moved to Aarau, Switz. He attended a technical school in Zürich (graduating in 1900) and during this period renounced his German citizenship; stateless for some years, he became a Swiss citizen in 1901. Einstein became a junior examiner (or clerk) at the Swiss patent office in 1902 and began producing original theoretical work that laid many of the foundations for 20th-century physics. He received his doctorate from the University of Zürich in 1905, the same year he won international fame with the publication of four articles: one on Brownian motion, which he explained in terms of molecular kinetic energy; one on the photoelectric effect, in which he demonstrated the particle nature of light; and two on his special theory of relativity, the second of which included his formulation of the equivalence of mass and energy (E = mc2). Einstein held several professorships before becoming director of Berlin's Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics in 1913. In 1915 he published his general theory of relativity, which was confirmed experimentally during a solar eclipse in 1919 with observations of the deflection of light passing near the Sun. He received a Nobel Prize in 1921 for his work on the photoelectric effect, his work on relativity still being controversial. For decades he sought to discover the mathematical relationship between electromagnetism and gravitation, which he believed would be a first step toward discovering the common laws governing the behaviour of everything in the universe, but such a unified field theory eluded him. His theories of relativity and gravitation represented a profound advance over Newtonian physics and revolutionized scientific and philosophical inquiry. He resigned his position at the Prussian Academy when Adolf Hitler came to power and moved to Princeton, N.J., where he joined the Institute for Advanced Study. Though a longtime pacifist, he was instrumental in persuading Pres. Franklin Roosevelt in 1939 to initiate the Manhattan Project for the production of an atomic bomb, a technology his own theories greatly furthered, though he did not work on the project himself. Einstein became a U.S. citizen in 1940 but retained his Swiss citizenship. The most eminent scientist in the world in the postwar years, he declined an offer to become the first prime minister of Israel and became a strong advocate for nuclear disarmament.; Einstein, Albert on britannica.com

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socratus

Posted: 11.18.11, 05:31 AM

Science and Religion. =. All religions, arts and sciences are branches of the same tree. / Albert Einstein / How is it possible to understand this quote? What is the name of this Einstein’s tree? The name of Einstein’s tree is Vacuum. What is the vacuum? The answer. # ‘It might even give us some ground to speculate that the vacuum itself (and hence the universe) is ‘conscious’. / Book ‘The quantum self ’ page 208. by Danah Zohar. / # ‘If we were looking for something that we could conceive of as God within the universe of the new physics, this ground state, coherent quantum vacuum might be a good place to start.’ / Book ‘The quantum self ’ page 208. by Danah Zohar. / http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danah_Zohar ========.

ahab666

Posted: 06.18.11, 05:43 AM

ad comment 1&2 - their comments talk 4 themselves .... :-/ ad LucyDaily : well religious fanaticism that leads to inhuman atrocities or collective driven irrational behavior might really define as illness/sickness. in its mild form it is called a fixation but it can evolve to all kinds of neurosis and become a pathological psychoses. i emphasize the word define because the criteria for mental sickness evolved through time and always depend on the historical, cultural a.s.o. background of the society where they are/were established - luckily for us the information/globalization age might change that. historically reviewed organized religion never had the goal to liberate its followers (from their fears of death,agony,suffering a.s.o. long list) or guide them to "spiritual" (self) awareness. for your last (i guess rhetorical) question - even sacred cows should be milked and occasionally slaughtered b4 they run dry ad Plange - thx 4 your note ad JimH: define your definition between a pseudo and a real intellectual - the last riots at the ice hokey finals in canada contradict your theory that physical exercise necessarily creates intellectuals - it creates better (emotionally) balanced people - hey wait does it ? ad ajstavely711 : i deeply sympathize with both of your comments but here is my dilemma : http://www.military-quotes.com/albert-einstein.htm - the very last one at the bottom of the page i completely agree with A.E but at the same time i too respect your decision to voluntarily join the military for what reasons ever ... i guess that quote is from Einsteins youth when he faced forced recruitment to go "march" WW1 - even thouhgh i am a european is deeply share your worries mentioned in your last paragraph. ad theknopfknows: reducing any collective consciousness just to humans is to say the least stupid, reductive, anthropocentric, narrow-minded, unimaginative - i am running out of negative biased adjectives - why not talking about a universal collective consciousness ? - V.Frankl enjoyed that kind of idea in a podium discussion in the late 80s in Vienna. Trying to link the unified field theory with the O.T.,the coincidental same day of birth of 2 great thinkers and the mental state of Hitler well no comment on that one by me .... Quote: The question is "How did Judaism guide Einsteins Thinking! imho some doctorates (think its called thesis papers in english) as well as much hot air might be produced - but that answer could only have been answered by A.E. himself - either no one was intelligent enough to ask him in his lifetime - or may be he did not find it important enough to extensively write about it ... about the clip : the guy to the right apologized for Einsteins accent - on the other hand he pronounced his name like A.E. would have done it himself - bravo the book author herself - no idea about her motives - but believing to get any ideas of how A.E. (or any other dead person) might have experienced GOD by studying artifacts is preposterous - i was not able to do that with living ordinary (average) people ... and from his life-work and biography i am sure he was everything else than average - an extraordinary person ! the guy to the left was the only one who was able to throw in some arguments that made sense to me and that fit into an intellectual and scientific discussion.

Philonous

Posted: 12.18.10, 08:56 AM

I completely agree

theknopfknows

Posted: 07.16.10, 03:44 PM

Einsten`s Ideas: Time for Albert was a multi-demensions, where past, present and future happens all at once.Nov. 1930 Berliner Tageblatt. Einstein wrote in 1934 Amsterdam "Is there a Jewish Point of View? "Our Debt To Zionism"..."Why do they hate the Jews" Collier`s Magazine New York Nov.26 1938In 1949 "The Jews of Israel" radio broadcast New York. His humour was a Jewish Humour yet little took notice how Proud Einstein was to be a Jew. 1934 Albert Wrote "Letter To An Arab". Einstein never made fun of G_d, it`s Jewish humour Typical of Jews in Europe. Einstein was an old testament Jew, HOW YOU CAN LEAVE THIS OUT is beyond Me. It is obvious to me these nice people failed in research, New York Time Magazine 1930 November, Albert wrote "Religion And Science" also "The Religious Spirit Of Science" Well folks you all missed out on the Real Einstein, too leave out His Jewish background and Jewish ideas, where His Physics begin,is to Miss Out Entirely. To deny His Jewish thinking is to deny the Person. That`s why Hitler`s confusion, to kill the smartest German who happens to be a Jew! very confusing even to this discussion. The unified field theory comes from the Old Jewish Idea of ONE G_D. Old Testament, alongb with Victor Frankl, Leo Baeck, friends of Albert! We know EVERYTHING about Robert Darwin and The Darwin Science Family dating back to Isaac Newton president of Royal Society. This creation evolution was throughout Darwins Family for 4 generations. Darwin was not agnostic He was Hamiltonian, please folks research you subjects better! Remember Darwin nborn same day same year as Abraham Lincoln, collective human consciousness, that all three giants believed in. The question is "How did Judaism guide Einsteins Thinking!"

ajstavely711

Posted: 06.03.10, 10:09 AM

I know this video was trying to show that religion can mesh with science but to do so one must abandon religions like Judaism, Christianity, Islam & others for simple fact these religions believe they have all the answers already...And any THINKING person can clearly see these religion's so-called answers are almost completely wrong! Not to mention they promote the open hatred of other groups including each other! So, in the modern world people must create their religious views so that they accept others for who they are, do not try and control women as if they are property and must join the scientific debate on an intellectual level that abandon the views of Bronze Age Men. Our country's troubles are due in part from the Republican Party's use of religion to control weal minded people blindly vote in their favor. It is disgusting & extremely sad to watch this process! If this continues our country will be reduced to a Theocracy that allows the wealthy few & Corporations to completely dominate us! This process is already speeding out of control and that worries me!

ajstavely711

Posted: 06.03.10, 09:52 AM

Alikar...I usually do not respond to comments like yours but I am so tired of people like you who actually believe in Bronze Age Myths and the damage it is doing to our country on so many levels! If you want to believe that Bronze Age Men knew more about the world we live in then that is your right...The Constitution protects your right to be willfully ignorant. However, when I served in the military I served to protect you and your rights but I also served to protect everyone's rights and that DAMN sure included Gays, Lesbians, Bi-sexual, Transsexuals and Intersexuals & a woman's right to control everything that has to do with her body!! It sickens me to know people like you allow the words of Bronze Age Men to motivate you to openly discriminate and hate people for who they are...I also find it rather hypocritical of people like you to JUDGE others considering your demi-god specifically said you were not to JUDGE others. All I can say it is time people like you are treated as children until you grow up and accept reality in a way that does not discriminate or hate others for the way they were born & who they are!

JimH

Posted: 06.02.10, 11:28 PM

If she had engaged in some highly active, demanding sport such as soccer, or swimming, she most likely wouldn't have had all these problems. But then she wouldn't have become a pseudo-intellect.

plange

Posted: 06.02.10, 02:22 PM

Alikar Please stay out of the science section. If you think you can dismiss science because you believe in a religion, go ahead, but don't comment on videos involving science if you can't conduct yourself in an appropriate analytical manner. There are plenty of religious organizations, blogs, and forums for people just like you. People come here to learn about various topics and to gain a better understanding of our world. The last thing anyone wants is people polluting the comment section with ideas from ancient cults. It becomes ridiculously sickening when you find a website dedicated to something you really like, but it ends up being overrun by nonsensical users.

LucyDaily

Posted: 06.02.10, 06:51 AM

I came from a family without religion, married a man who came from a family without religion, raised 2 brilliant, loving, caring children without religion and I have often wondered what caused others to need religion when clearly it is not needed by so many people. Is it like religious diabetes where some people are born without the ability to cope and others develop an inability to cope later in life? All of the people I have known who developed a need for religion later in life, developed hyper-religious, cultish behaviors like standing on street corners screaming "Whore" at complete strangers. They all went insane, murdered people, tried to murder their children, committed suicide, became drug addicted, committed adultery with church leaders, alienated themselves from family members, became homeless etc. Or they are the ones who "found" religion while in jail and promptly lose it after the parole hearing. Most of the people I have known who claim a religion never actually attend services of any kind and the ones who do only attend for an hour once a week or only on holidays. They seem to be on an even keel and don't generally exhibit any outrageous behaviors. These people seem to do it out of habit started in childhood. So what I want to know is there some mental illness that people develop that causes them to seek out religion and because religion is a sacred cow they do not get any treatment because no one dares an intervention?

Alikar

Posted: 05.31.10, 09:51 PM

Homosexuality is neither an Illness nor an Identity. It is a sin.

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