3 ms·

My best subject in Physics was electricity and magnetism, which depends heavily on special relativity. I aced the junior year E&M final without ever having sho

My best subject in Physics was electricity and magnetism, which depends heavily on special relativity. I aced the junior year E&M final without ever having shown up to class nor attempted any of the problem sets. I don't recall sitting for a midterm exam, maybe I spaced it. I also successfully petitioned for credit for UCSC's optics class. In my written narrative evaluation, Dr. Scherr said that while I got the correct answers, my derivations were quite different from those of the other students.

zamalek 11y ago
All of which have nothing to do with Einstein.
- MichaelCrawford 11y ago
  My point being that I know quite a lot about relativity. Not just that I know about it but have quite a deep understanding of it. I know quite a lot about Einstein as a person.
  - zamalek 11y ago
    > I know quite a lot about Einstein as a person. Clearly not. According to Maria, Einstein had immense aptitude for applied arithmetic by age 12. > My point being that I know quite a lot about relativity. How is your knowledge of relativity relevant to the discussion? The topic of Einstein's arithmetic aptitude was raised.
    - MichaelCrawford 11y ago
      You are being disingenuous. The original protest to my comment about Einstein's arithmetic, made the claim that I was in agreement with the eccentrics who claim Einstein's theories are incorrect. To the extent that they have been verified by experiment, I know that the theories are correct. We haven't found gravitational waves yet, which is a concern but all other experiments have worked out. Not my emphasis on experiment: even when theoretical derivations, proofs and the like are flawlessly carried out, that doesn't mean that they correspond with physical reality. That's the whole point of being a physics researcher. That's not well understood by most members of the public; the exciting thing about physics is to prove a theorist wrong through experiment. It's helpful to prove a theorist right, but uninteresting to do so.
      - zamalek 11y ago
        > The original protest to my comment about Einstein's arithmetic My protest with that comment about his arithmetic is that it is incorrect. > You are being disingenuous. No I am not. I am pointing out that you bringing up your educational level is completely irrelevant to the argument. Your education about Einstein's work has absolutely no bearing on your potential knowledge about his person or arithmetic ability - you are setting yourself up as an authority in a plea to authority. I'd take his sister, Maria's, word about his arithmetic ability over yours - regardless of your degree. Your degree, profession, hobby, articles and so forth (that you keep bringing up out of context) hold absolutely no authority in that original assertion that you made. Being a theoretical physicist does not make you right about everything, even on matters about the physicists who pioneered fields that you are an expert on. It is you who is being disingenuous by attempting to diminish other people's intelligence by explaining how you are more intelligent than them by virtue of your talent in physics - I can't fathom any other reason why you would bring up that irrelevant information. I never said that you are stupid, I said that you are wrong. If you believe that you are right because you are a physicist then you are most certainly a fool (which is still different from stupid).
gambiter 11y ago
Yet, based on your other comments, you apparently still live with mommy and are incapable of reading an article.
- MichaelCrawford 11y ago
  I moved back in with Mom because the old friend I was living with was having a spat with his landlady. They are business partners, she blamed me for him slacking off on his work. He and I blame her for being a control freak. I didn't want to come right out and say so to her face. I figured it would make peace between my friend and his business partner were I to move out of her house. I read lots of articles - that's why i hang at hacker news. I write them too.
- dang 11y ago
  Personal attacks are not allowed on Hacker News, regardless of whether someone has read an article.

zamalek 11y ago

All of which have nothing to do with Einstein.

MichaelCrawford 11y ago
My point being that I know quite a lot about relativity. Not just that I know about it but have quite a deep understanding of it. I know quite a lot about Einstein as a person.
- zamalek 11y ago
  > I know quite a lot about Einstein as a person. Clearly not. According to Maria, Einstein had immense aptitude for applied arithmetic by age 12. > My point being that I know quite a lot about relativity. How is your knowledge of relativity relevant to the discussion? The topic of Einstein's arithmetic aptitude was raised.
  - MichaelCrawford 11y ago
    You are being disingenuous. The original protest to my comment about Einstein's arithmetic, made the claim that I was in agreement with the eccentrics who claim Einstein's theories are incorrect. To the extent that they have been verified by experiment, I know that the theories are correct. We haven't found gravitational waves yet, which is a concern but all other experiments have worked out. Not my emphasis on experiment: even when theoretical derivations, proofs and the like are flawlessly carried out, that doesn't mean that they correspond with physical reality. That's the whole point of being a physics researcher. That's not well understood by most members of the public; the exciting thing about physics is to prove a theorist wrong through experiment. It's helpful to prove a theorist right, but uninteresting to do so.
    - zamalek 11y ago
      > The original protest to my comment about Einstein's arithmetic My protest with that comment about his arithmetic is that it is incorrect. > You are being disingenuous. No I am not. I am pointing out that you bringing up your educational level is completely irrelevant to the argument. Your education about Einstein's work has absolutely no bearing on your potential knowledge about his person or arithmetic ability - you are setting yourself up as an authority in a plea to authority. I'd take his sister, Maria's, word about his arithmetic ability over yours - regardless of your degree. Your degree, profession, hobby, articles and so forth (that you keep bringing up out of context) hold absolutely no authority in that original assertion that you made. Being a theoretical physicist does not make you right about everything, even on matters about the physicists who pioneered fields that you are an expert on. It is you who is being disingenuous by attempting to diminish other people's intelligence by explaining how you are more intelligent than them by virtue of your talent in physics - I can't fathom any other reason why you would bring up that irrelevant information. I never said that you are stupid, I said that you are wrong. If you believe that you are right because you are a physicist then you are most certainly a fool (which is still different from stupid).

gambiter 11y ago

Yet, based on your other comments, you apparently still live with mommy and are incapable of reading an article.

MichaelCrawford 11y ago
I moved back in with Mom because the old friend I was living with was having a spat with his landlady. They are business partners, she blamed me for him slacking off on his work. He and I blame her for being a control freak. I didn't want to come right out and say so to her face. I figured it would make peace between my friend and his business partner were I to move out of her house. I read lots of articles - that's why i hang at hacker news. I write them too.
dang 11y ago
Personal attacks are not allowed on Hacker News, regardless of whether someone has read an article.