12 Comments
Nov 5Liked by Andrew Smith

The main message I got from this is that "E = mc2" is basically the universe punching us squarely in the face.

That's my takeaway and I'll stand by it!

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B+. Good understanding of fists.

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Nov 5Liked by Andrew Smith

I have face-on experience with fists.

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Equal and opposite reaction implies the fist gets punched by the face, too. Silver linings!

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I give you a C++. Because C and ++ is like squared and C++ is a thing. Please like me, I am so clever. But YOU! Yes that’s the first time I’ve an inkling of what Einstein was going on about

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That's awesome! It made some sense, then?

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for sure, i'll have to read it four-squared more times though. Its not intuitive.

You ever see any of the movies that try to portray what Einstein was like in real life. Like the famous tongue-out picture. Was he a funny dude? relatable? Christopher Nolan took a stab in Oppenheimer but that was kind of grim. I caught a part of IQ in a hotel where Walter Matthau plays Einstein being a matchmaker. I guess its people trying to connect to a genius on a level we get?

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I did see Oppenheimer, and I do think Einstein had his more... grim moments, to be sure. I read his book, "Relativity", and it's actually very good. I read it like 20 years ago, though, so please take my memory for what it's worth: not much!

I'm sure you know about some of Einstein's more famous real life traits. He famously married his cousin, was a lousy romantic partner, and bought identical suits for days of the week so he didn't have to waste time thinking about what to wear.

I can only imagine how frustrating it must have been to see so far, and yet have so people who were capable of seeing nearly so far... but then again, there were some visionaries during that time, especially in QM. That said, I think it was a pretty solitary existence for both Einstein and Newton.

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Nov 6Liked by Andrew Smith

What an interesting read! I often contemplated this equation but felt it would always be beyond my meager math skills to have even a little understanding of. While it is still way beyond my grasp, you have done an excellent job (quite Sagan-like!) in bringing some of it down to earth for minds like mine to appreciate 🥰 Thank you for sharing!

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Awesome! Thanks, Tracy.

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My takeaway is to read this valuable post over and over again. For years, I've been puzzled by E=mc2.

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Did this mostly make sense? This was tough to write, but also very rewarding.

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