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Comment by gizmodo59 | Hacker News Reader

While I'm not sure about Da Vinci and Newton, Einstein was always humble

Outright dismissing quantum mechanics because of a personal belief in an linearly causal universe is not really what one would call humble. He's full of rather snarky quotes to express such dismissal ranging from "God does not play dice with the universe." to describing quantum entanglement as "spooky action at a distance." Interestingly, the sarcasm of the latter has been lost in modern context and the former mostly used as an false indicator of religion from Einstein.

I think Einstein's perceived humility was mostly a consequence of the fact that he was mostly right on everything he said, and people quickly acknowledged as much. Relativity overtook aether theory shockingly quickly for instance. There's the old quote that science progresses one funeral at a time. The meaning there being that people tend to obstinately hold onto past beliefs, so it is frequent that it takes the passing of one generation for progress to be effectively made by another. One of his only views that was not widely accepted was that of his view of quantum mechanics - and that's where his snidery started to emerge. But in other cases having your revolutionary ideas rapidly and universally adopted is going to make it rather easier to speak softly knowing your big stick is certainly up to task. And that's probably one too many quotes for a single post...

You're being unfair to the poor guy. It's not as if those quotations are without context and basis. It's also not as if he doesn't have a whole raft of other recorded quotations which provide evidence for his humility. Consider, for example,

> A hundred times every day I remind myself that my inner and outer life are based on the labors of other men, living and dead, and that I must exert myself in order to give in the same measure as I have received and am still receiving...

The dice quote makes more sense when you consider Einstein's personal philosophy, which had led him to discover relativity and aspects of QM. He strongly believed that once you uncover nature's secrets, not only do you understand the universe more, but you see why nothing else could possibly have been the case. Quantum mechanics as it was formulated/interpreted in his time violated this principle, thus he was motivated to look for the deeper secret. We're still arguing whether there's something deeper to this day. The particular type of model Einstein was exploring may have been dismissed, but you cannot fault his motivation - all physicists need one.

When you read about his relationship with his wife and children he was not exactly easy or nice.

While I admire him and read his writings with a lot of interest, I have got to admit : it sounds like he was a complete prick to absolutely all the women in his life.

the intimacy of family relationships are a different matter altogether

For much of history, men's relationships with wives and children was not held to the modern loving standards.

Isn't this analogous to noting that "founding fathers owned slaves!"

I don't think it was ever common that a husband would write to his wife a letter clearly laying out rules like in this letter:

http://www.listsofnote.com/2012/04/einsteins-demands.html

No trying to demonize him but this definitely a little unusual.

I think by the standards of history, that letter would be deemed kind.

Keep in mind that often times wives were essentially viewed as property, and subject to extreme (physical) abuse.

And of course that hasn't stopped.

I'm not supporting that behavior, of course.

> you will stop talking to me if I request it;

I guess I can relate to what was happening there, and I can't dismiss the possibility of (extreme) psychological abuse from the other side.

Did she not write one for him?

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