Albert Einstein may have been the smartest man in the 20th century. That doesn't mean that he couldn't make any mistakes.


The biggest problem with socialism, is that it takes away the right for the individual's right to choose what he or she wants to do.


It also takes away charity of the heart. For instance, brad donates a lot of money each year. If he is forced to give more money to the government then he will cut that amount of money that he donates. He may have stop donating. The reason for this is if the government is going to hold a gun to his head and make him help people. Then where is the incentive for him to help people because he cares.

It is like they tell you to leave room between your car and the car in front of you when you are stopped at a traffic light. Why do they say this? It is so you can go around the car in case it breaks down.

I agree you should leave room between the two cars. But that is so if the car in front breaks down and you hit the gas without realizing that the other car has broken down. You will have more time to re stop. But I say instead of going around the car Offer to help them first.

He was indeed a socialist and that doesn't come as a shock to me.

Many features of socialism are right, true, intelligent, and necessary for society to function.

In the very article you link to, Einstein says

"Nevertheless, it is necessary to remember that a planned economy is not yet socialism. A planned economy as such may be accompanied by the complete enslavement of the individual. The achievement of socialism requires the solution of some extremely difficult socio-political problems: how is it possible, in view of the far-reaching centralization of political and economic power, to prevent bureaucracy from becoming all-powerful and overweening? How can the rights of the individual be protected and therewith a democratic counterweight to the power of bureaucracy be assured?"

I agree with him. And I don't see how traditional socialists could have solved that problem or how current socialists and liberals SEE that problem and WANT to solve it.

He is right about a planned economy having the potential to be more efficient than a market economy. Nobody doubts that, not if they think about it for a moment. The problem with socialism is how to get there. It seems impossible and that is now clear whereas in the 1940s it was only apparent to either those who rejected socialism for no good reason (to them anything bad about socialism was "apparent") and to smart people like Einstein.

It is good that both Einstein and the first group were influential in the US in the 1940s. That way the US not only beat the fascists but also the communists.

Also note that "socialist" then and now mean two different things. In Einstein's days a "socialist" did not call himself a "liberal" and did not shout anti-Semitic slogans. In Einstein's days "socialism" was an alternative that was needed, not a palaeo-conservative attempt to revive fascism under a different name.

My parents are social democrats, but they are not "liberals" in the American sense or European mainstream.

Big differences...

Would you trust him to fix your car?

The difference between a super genius and a mental dwarf is about the much.(finger and thumb being held together.)





No. But I would trust him to design one.

Isaac Newton was an alchemist.

Does that mean we should be trying to turn lead into gold because he thought it was possible?

Interesting you bring up Newton- he also spent a good part of the latter half of his life trying to find a mathematical framework or code behind biblical scriptures. Not that ridiculous "bible code" that's been hawked about predicting meaningless little bumps of history, but he was actually looking for mathematical equations behind the writings.... but we don't hear much about that these days....



You're right in this regard. Just because someone has accomplished something spectacular doesn't mean that they are right in every thing they do, say and think. I just find it interesting that someone who was arguably one of the most popular contributors to modern science held these views. In my opinion it's an excellent article regardless of the author... but here's the question.... if you didn't know that it was written by Einstein, would you still have read it? Would you still have given it the same consideration? Normally an article espousing socialism on JU is pounced on pretty quickly but everyone has been playing nice in this thread.... kinda disapointing actually

  



That is exactly it, and a good summation. Reading it all, I am glad you put that statement in there - in the comments so others could read and think about it, and in the end, he is just another man with opinions, but a very highly regarded one. And that is why we listen. Not agree, but listen.

There was a guy name Kennecott out in Utah who turned Copper into Gold. ;~D