I’ve commented before that Albert Einstein is a good example of the power of brevity, something some politicians and campaigners forget when insisting they need to write a long story or give a length speech in order to properly explain an issue:
It’s far harder to write clear, precise and brief text than it is to write long, imprecise and waffly pieces. So don’t confuse brevity with dumbing down. Unless of course you think Albert Einstein was a stupid, idiotic scientist for lazily using just using five characters (not even five whole words!) to try to explain complex science when he wrote e=mc2.
It turns out he was pretty good at explaining liberalism too, despite his flirtation with socialism:
Oh, and since you asked – why yes, he does feature in a certain book.
* Mark Pack has written 101 Ways To Win An Election and produces a monthly newsletter about the Liberal Democrats.
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10 Comments
Einstein didn’t have a “flirtation” with socialism, he was a lifelong socialist.
In his 1949 article “Why Socialism”, he summarised his views well:
“I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals. In such an economy, the means of production are owned by society itself and are utilized in a planned fashion. A planned economy, which adjusts production to the needs of the community, would distribute the work to be done among all those able to work and would guarantee a livelihood to every man, woman, and child.”
That’s not to say that Einstein wasn’t also a liberal in many respects, but we shouldn’t try to hijack his political views for our own ends.
E=mc2 was the conclusion, there were many thousands of words and several papers accompanying it.
Not sure this analogy works.
Not that Einstein was a liberal anyway.
Short sharp words are good for scientists, but many human beings prefer the relaxed pace of waffle, particularly if it admits of many interpretations, and if it contains significant pomts that are copiously illustrated with accessible and homely examples, and sufficiently spread out that there is time to think between them..
Further to my previous point, I do think you were being rather short on Way 47. Makes it a bit dfficult to grasp. Any chance of a longer explanation here?
Was it George Bernard Shaw (another socialist) who once apologised to a friend for writing long letter because “I did not have time to write a short one”?
@Nick (not Clegg) Churchill and GBS said similar things
http://www.military-history.org/articles/winston-churchill-quotes.htm
http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/show/21224
If you click through to the article I’ve linked to in the first line, you’ll find someone else who said the same thing too (and who I think got there first)
Yes, E=MC2 is meaningless in itself – it only has any meaning if you (a) know what the letters stand for, and (b) know what the words mean. Hence Einstein writing The General Theory of Relativity and The Special Theory. Most British people in the street surely do not know what the letters stand for or what the Theory of Relativity actually is?
Maybe “For every action…” is a better example?
So, Mark, did they reach that point independently, or did plagiarism rule ok?
Yay! Einstein is cool!