Hiya jjw,
Sorry I took so long to respond. Holiday happiness...and dug out from El Blizzardo Diablo (Colorado).
Here's what I came up with:
Wow, I'm no expert in this area, and am just speculating based on the original question from swisswatchguy. I don't hold Einstein in such high esteem (as when I said ?...if nobody had ever thought of relativity.?). I still think he's pretty amazing, along with his wife and many others from that time; and maybe someone else would have come up with relativity, but he did.
You are very correct in pointing out that I'm equating relativity with the success of the Manhattan Project. I hadn't noticed that when writing what I did. Interestingly, (I think it was) Oppenheimer who voiced similar feelings after their success. I wonder if he might have opted to become a watchmaker also.
I do think you might be giving more credit to those ?geniuses? by asking, ?Some one person that could envision the awsome power of the Atom but could not perceive the result of the breaking effort?? -jjw
I guess I'm referring to hindsight. I mean if in the future, higher dimensional physics is used to create some awesome weapon, could we blame Ed Witten for not seeing the results of his ideas. I think it's probably also hard for people who explore the bounds of knowledge to remember what the heart of mankind can encompass.
Interesting question though: Would atomic bomb have been conceived of without relativity?
Any thoughts on this??? Maybe it's already been laid out; but as I say, I'm no expert in this area.
Heck, I sometimes wonder what different (and better?) schemes we (& Einstein too) might have come up with if Newton hadn't come up with that stupid ?gravity? law.
I'm not sure what to make of some of your last comments, but I think I'm ?in control,? as you say. I don't think Einstein was any more ?right? than Newton, but I'm still pretty amazed at what they've all added to our history. Check out some of the Darwin/OOS threads....
I don't hold these guys in reverence, but I do hold them in reference. ~Hey, cute, huh?
~Samwik
