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People like Newton, in earlier eras, would be called prophets. And Newton wasn't do far from the religious aspect himself. He was considered crazy in his time,
by dotancohen 1y ago
People like Newton, in earlier eras, would be called prophets. And Newton wasn't do far from the religious aspect himself. He was considered crazy in his time, disliked by most. He was an adherent of the occult, in fact he discovered gravity while specifically looking for ways to move objects from afar. Oh, he found it. Today he is revered, and rightly so, but at the time he was hated though he was respected.
- bonoboTP 1y agoI don't think prophet is the right word. Prophets didn't develop physics or engineering but warned the tribe of God's impending punishment unless they obey better or similar historic predictions of how God will use floods or draughts or enemy tribes to challenge you etc.
- dotancohen 1y agoNewton had insight far beyond the teachings of his day, and struggled to present them to the people.
- bonoboTP 1y agoI'm quibbling with the term "prophet", I'm not disparaging the amount or beyondness of Newton's insight. Prophets are generally not known for the "beyond"-ness of their "insights".
- dotancohen 1y agoActually, that is exactly what a prophet is. A person endowed with perception not afforded to most other people.
- Onavo 1y agoHe's probably also the first quant (headed the british federal bank) and infamously lost a ton of money in a shipping bubble.
- olddustytrail 1y ago> He was considered crazy in his time, disliked by most. Where did you get that from? As far as I know he was widely respected as a genius in his time and had great professional and social success (including receiving a knighthood of course). Where is it written that he was considered crazy and disliked?
- dotancohen 1y agoNewton had many fueds and enemies, and was repeatedly not a pleasant person. Hook and Liebniz come quickly to mind. You should read about his experiments and beliefs in the occult. I'm of the opinion that the story of the apple falling on his head, started as a jab.
- dr_dshiv 1y agoAll those guys had “beliefs in the occult”