Glen (me):
>Actually, stranger yet, it appears that Einstein was heavily affected >in
>viewpoint by that which existed in faraway India.
Piotr:
>He wasn't, Glen, and relativity owes nothing to faraway India (except >very
>indirectly, like all exact science; in this sense we owe zero, >rather than
>nothing, to ancient Indian mathematicians). Some other >contemporary
>physicists (including Niels Bohr, I think) were indeed >interested in
>Eastern philosophy as a source of intellectual >inspiration, which doesn't
>mean that they converted Vedanta or >Buddhist metaphysics into scientific
>theories.
Technically we owe "zero" to the Mayans for inventing it first :) But
seriously, Einstein wasn't just a scientist. He was a human-being, having
rather suave, bohemian tendencies might I add, who did read alot of
non-science-related books too.
Now, from what it seems to me, Eastern _anything_ was popular in the
Victorian age and again in the 20s (and again in the peace-not-war,
maryjane-smoking, communal 60s, influencing early 80s pop music via the
rising importance of Japanese economy and now currently infused in clubkid
clothing as easily recognizable Chinese characters, mainly words like /ai/
"love", /dong/ "east" and /an/ "peace", messages which in themselves are
partly a throwback from the 60s).
I wouldn't consider this recurring popularity of Eastern influence as
"indirect" influence but certainly scientists didn't literally convert the
entire buddhist faith directly into science like you jested. It was simply a
source of _inspiration_ for new concepts, especially where theoretical
science was involved and imagination key.
Religion has always played a part in how we look at science. In the
turn-of-the-century, we still see many linguistic materials which talk of
"Japhetic", "Shemitic" and "Hamitic" language groups (it still is
embarassingly supported by the Jehovah's Witnesses). We all know that this
was inspired by the Bible, another religious influence and we can even
debate that the New Testament itself, which speaks of the wrathful Yahweh of
Old Testament as a compassionate god of love and understanding, was also
influenced by thoughts coming from the east. Einstein's concept of
relativity is not unlike the buddhistic concept that reality is an illusion
where things aren't what they seem.
If we add up all the contributions that the East supplied to Western
thought, it may be considered more direct than indirect. "God doesn't play
dice," he said - it wasn't a very scientific thing to say, let's face it. So
what influenced him to say this? Case in point.
- gLeN
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