From: "John Foster" <borealis-AT-mercuryspeed.com>
Subject: Re: Einstein
Date: Sun, 21 Sep 2003 20:16:30 -0700



----- Original Message -----
From: "Tudor Georgescu" <tgeorgescu-AT-home.nl>
To: <heidegger-AT-lists.village.Virginia.EDU>
Sent: Friday, September 19, 2003 3:30 AM
Subject: RE: Einstein


> Einstein, according to the knowledge he had, he thought Hitler will get
the
> bomb. Therefore, he recommended for a kind of equilibrium of powers,
pretty
> much as the cold war arsenal, equilibrium of arsenals which prevented
large
> scale wars.
>
> Therefore, he agreed with having in stock such a device. He never
supported
> the actual bombing of the Japanese. Therefore, he is not as guilty as he
> thought.

That is correct. However Einstein did sign a petiton aksing for a nuclear
bomb (ie. the Manhattan Project). It was not a public petition nor
referendum, but a petition used by professionals to support the construction
of a weapon of mass destruction. Later he was so depressed by the results of
his nuclear physics (without his scientific findings E=MC2) that he actually
did not want to be a physicist; he felt very bad indeed about the
consequences of the science he founded.

>
> Besides, he did not make the bomb.

The material issue is not important. The enriched uranium came from Canada,
and there were about 40,000 full time workers on the Manhattan Project (At
that time the worlds largest mega-project ever). The Egyptian Pyramids were
'tiny' in comparison to the Manhattan Project. The issue which is important
is the 'intellectual capital' used to make the nuclear bomb. If Einstein had
become a plumber, then there would now be no nuclear bombs. May be we would
be just seeing the theoretical science emerg just now...who knows?

john

 Oppenheimer & co. made it. Einstein was
> nothing like an atomist. His interest in physics was strictly theoretical.
> Happily, E=mc2 was never applied in an explosive device (kind of
anti-matter
> annihilation). E=mc2 only fueled the power dreams of the engineers who
> already were on such a path.
>
> Tudor Georgescu
>
> http://intellect-club.nl.eu.org
>
>
>
>
>
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