Hacker News Reader

Comment by thundergolfer | Hacker News Reader

The fact that a world famous scientist whose name is synonymous with “genius” was a staunch socialist seems an underplayed point.

Not that we should expect physics expertise to lend credibility to politics. It just seems like everyone knows Einstein and his work but very few know of his politics, which he held so strongly.

View on HN

How many famous scientists are you aware of who were conservative? I assume Edward Teller was, but I'm not sure. I'd make a bad lawyer because I'm actually asking a question I don't exactly know the answer to. That said, academia has always tended liberal so I do have a suspicion as to which way it would lean.

It makes sense; those who enter academia choose to devote their gifts to the progress of human knowledge, at the expense of anything more than a slim chance of fame or wealth. It's not surprising that their political views tend to be socially rather than individually focused.

His name being synonymous with "genius" makes the socialist ideal of equality a tough sell.

In terms of mathematics and physics he was a genius. In every other field, he was just some dude.

In fact in this instance he's repeating the common Germanic gestalt. Nothing profound, nothing out of the ordinary, just standard-issue Prussian Socialist talking points he adopted by default like pretty much everyone else who grew up in that culture.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com