XPost: sci.physics.relativity, sci.math, alt.atheism   
   From: PointedEars@web.de   
      
   jojo wrote:   
   > Dawn Flood wrote:   
   >> On 12/21/2025 1:25 AM, The Starmaker wrote:   
   >>> On Wed, 17 Dec 2025 14:44:12 -0800, The Starmaker   
   >>>  wrote:   
   >>>   
   >>>> Einstein's God (a cosmic religion)   
      
   Oversimplified.   
      
   >>> is called Spinoza's God ,   
      
   No.  Instead, Einstein subscribed to an idea of "God" the same as the Dutch   
   philosopher, Baruch Spinoza (who was excommunicated by the Jewish community   
   of Amsterdam because of that).   
      
   >>>> the God Einstein believes in.   
      
   "Belief" should not be understood in terms of "religion" here.  Einstein was   
   an atheist (by his own account), an agnostic at best (also by his own   
   account).  He often referred to that "god" tongue-in-cheek as "der Alte"   
   (German for "the Old Man").  That is not what a true believer in a deity   
   would do.   
      
   >>> No Free Will   , human free will is an illusion; our choices are   
   >>>> determined by natural causes.   
      
   That is only part of what Spinoza's idea of "God" is all about.  It is   
   mainly about that "God" would be manifested in all things (without having   
   created the Universe; and not all attributes of "God" would be manifested);   
   but they would not communicate with humans, would not consider them or Earth   
   special, would not have a plan for them or any individual, nor would they   
   exert any subsequent influence on the Universe.   
      
   It is an ongoing discussion whether that makes Spinoza an atheist; but if   
   so, then Einstein, who by his own account subscribed to that worldview, was   
   an atheist, too.   
      
      
      
      
   >> Professor Einstein died 75 years ago; now, if he was alive today,   
   >> he may have thought differently about some things?!  Agreed??   
   >   
   > he wouldnt be able to get the patent clerk job because   
   > requirements have probably become too much for him.   
      
   *facepalm*   
      
   Under which rock does one have to live to reduce Einstein to that job?   
      
   Albert Einstein (1879-1955) only worked at the Swiss Patent Office for 7   
   years (!) of his life (1902-1909), and from at least 1905 on his friend   
   Michele Besso did most of his work there (by Einstein's design, and Besso   
   happily did it) as that was only a fallback as he could not earn enough   
   money as a private teacher to support his wife and newborn son.  As Besso   
   was doing his work *and* Einstein's, Einstein had more time to develop his   
   theories, which they talked about after work (especially Besso's support in   
   developing special relativity is well-documented by Einstein in a "thank   
   you" note at the end of the first paper on that).   
      
   Most of his life, from 1908 on, Einstein worked as a university professor of   
   Physics and as a theoretical physicist.   
      
      
      
   F'up2 sci.physics   
      
   --   
   PointedEars   
      
   Twitter: @PointedEars2   
   Please do not cc me. / Bitte keine Kopien per E-Mail.   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)