Re: The Fifth Dimension

From: Bilge (dubious_at_radioactivex.lebesque-al.net)
Date: 07/05/04 

Date: Mon, 05 Jul 2004 18:00:33 -0000

 Leonard Pardin:
>"Cozmo Man" <cozmologist@scientist.com> wrote:

>> Leonard, not only do you not understand the geometry that Einstein
>> used in general relativity, you do not even understand the geometry
>> that you think you endorse. Doesn't it embarrass you, even a little,
>> to say such silly and clueless things as you do?
>
> That's the standard reply whenever someone points out some
>Einsteinian stupidity: the claim is that Einstein's genius is just too
>deep for normal people to understand.

  In that case, let's be conservative and just say that einstein was
smart enough that at least some people would probably have some difficulty
understanding at least one or two things he said.

>Well, have you ever read anything by Einstein?

  You mean he could write? In that case, I might have been a bit too
conservative up above. Were his books anything like stephen king's?

> I mean something he himself wrote, not the reams of apologetics
>flowing out of the netherworld of relativity. Einstein wrote that
>geometric straight lines are really the same as little rigid rods.
>You may think of that as pure genius, but any high school
>geometry teacher would have made Einstein retake the course.

   Since you've probably investigated that comment very carefully, I'm
sure your assessment is correct in that there are no subtleties that
might be attached to the word rigid which could escape any high school
student. That doesn't speak well of a number of people who have been
posting on this newsgroup for years but still manage to confuse
the meaning of ``rigid rod'' with a rod made of materials one can
locate in this universe.

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