Who's the greater genius - Shakespeare or Einstein?

TSMGUY

The greatest writer of all time or the greatest physicist? Who impacted society more?

vicwatson

Einstein, close thread

TSMGUY

vicwatson wrote: »

Einstein, close thread

definitive 1st comment, care to expand on that? I agree but there's definitely a case for Shakespeare.

irish bloke

leonardo da vinci

The Specialist

TSMGUY wrote: »

The greatest writer of all time or the greatest physicist? Who impacted society more?

Einstein, no question about it. They are not even in the same league when it comes to the scale of their contributions.

TSMGUY

The Specialist wrote: »

Einstein, no question about it. They are not even in the same league when it comes to the scale of their contributions.

So a great writer can never compare to a great scientist?

Samaris

The two things aren't entirely related.

In terms of direct impact on day to day lives, Shakespeare. He's part of our culture. But was he really even "the greatest writer who ever lived", or was he a good playwright who, through a combination of luck (that his works happened to survive, compared to many other contemporary or earlier writers) and popularity stayed with us to the present day?

Einstein had the more original and inventive mind, but his works are more esoteric and far fewer people can understand them compared to Shakespeare. So less impact on popular culture. I don't understand his stuff either, by the way! I'm going on all the people who apparently do understand it and seem to think it was pretty incredible :P

I guess the point is that it's all relative. (sorry).

Jawgap

TSMGUY wrote: »

So a great writer can never compare to a great scientist?

"It's all relative"

Albert Einstein, 1905

Jawgap

Samaris wrote: »

......

I guess the point is that it's all relative. (sorry).

"b@stard!!! Beat me to the punchline"

William Shakespeare 1604

Timberrrrrrrr

TSMGUY wrote: »

So a great writer can never compare to a great scientist?

Shakespear wrote stories Einstein invented things that changed the world

TSMGUY

Samaris wrote: »

The two things aren't entirely related.

In terms of direct impact on day to day lives, Shakespeare. He's part of our culture. But was he really even "the greatest writer who ever lived", or was he a good playwright who, through a combination of luck (that his works happened to survive, compared to many other contemporary or earlier writers) and popularity stayed with us to the present day?

Einstein had the more original and inventive mind, but his works are more esoteric and far fewer people can understand them compared to Shakespeare. So less impact on popular culture. I don't understand his stuff either, by the way! I'm going on all the people who apparently do understand it and seem to think it was pretty incredible :P

I guess the point is that it's all relative. (sorry).

Don't apologize, it's a bad pun (Shakespeare was the king of corny wordplay) about relativity. Perfectly fitting....

Dave0301

TSMGUY wrote: »

So a great writer can never compare to a great scientist?

You're comparing apples and oranges.

For what it is worth though, it is Einstein.

The man was hundreds of years ahead of his colleagues and his work on Special and General Relativity advanced our understanding of the universe, not to mention allow us to have GPS.

TSMGUY

Timberrrrrrrr wrote: »

Shakespear wrote stories Einstein invented things that changed the world

"Wrote stories", jeeez that's dismissive. Like saying "Einstein crunched numbers":( More to it than......

But I agree, broadly speaking.

johnnyskeleton

Jawgap wrote: »

"It's all relative"

Albert Einstein, 1905

Theres nothing either good nor bad, but thinking makes it so.

jimmy blevins

Shakespeare is still at the top of his field, while some of Einstein's theories have been subsequently discredited.
Particularly in quantum mechanics where Niels Bohr kicked his arse.

TSMGUY

Dave0301 wrote: »

You're comparing apples and oranges.

For what it is worth though, it is Einstein.

The man was hundreds of years ahead of his colleagues and his work on Special and General Relativity advanced our understanding of the universe, not to mention allow us to have GPS.

God, I hate that phrase! The whole point of a comparison is to point out the similarities between different things. I'd hardly compare apples and apples. That'd just be the very boring "Newton v Einstein" thread....

Your Face

Heraclitus

TSMGUY

jimmy blevins wrote: »

Shakespeare is still at the top of his field, while some of Einstein's theories have been subsequently discredited.
Particularly in quantum mechanics where Niels Bohr kicked his arse.

And Shakespeare's plays were "inspired" by various different predecessors. And his style of writing is becoming less prevalent. I don't think it's fair to judge a man by the state of affairs long after he's died, especially in a field as fast-moving as physics.

Jawgap

Timberrrrrrrr wrote: »

Shakespear wrote stories Einstein invented things that changed the world

I think, I'll happily accept being corrected, Shakespeare's plays are dramatisations of historical events or stories told and conceived by others - so in that regard there's some lack of originality. His poetry is a different class altogether though.

Saying that, many of our everyday expressions originated from his plays....including that word so beloved of boards.ie.......RANT!!!

Anyway, Francis Bacon is the real Shakespearean genius; )

Brian?

TSMGUY wrote: »

So a great writer can never compare to a great scientist?

No, they can't.

Your Face

Jawgap wrote: »

Anyway, Francis Bacon is the real Shakespearean genius; )

A lot of ideas were brought to England from France during the French Renaissance.
Shakespeare and many others owe much of their style to Michel de Montaigne.

764dak

Samaris wrote: »

The two things aren't entirely related.

In terms of direct impact on day to day lives, Shakespeare. He's part of our culture. But was he really even "the greatest writer who ever lived", or was he a good playwright who, through a combination of luck (that his works happened to survive, compared to many other contemporary or earlier writers) and popularity stayed with us to the present day?

Einstein had the more original and inventive mind, but his works are more esoteric and far fewer people can understand them compared to Shakespeare. So less impact on popular culture. I don't understand his stuff either, by the way! I'm going on all the people who apparently do understand it and seem to think it was pretty incredible :P

I guess the point is that it's all relative. (sorry).

Oh?
http://web.ihep.su/library/pubs/tconf05/ps/c5-1.pdf

http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/esp_einstein.htm

http://www.cracked.com/article_16072_5-famous-inventors-who-stole-their-big-idea.html

Timberrrrrrrr

TSMGUY wrote: »

"Wrote stories", jeeez that's dismissive. Like saying "Einstein crunched numbers":( More to it than......

But I agree, broadly speaking.

Don't get me wrong I'm not dismissing Shakespeare and there is no denying he was a literary genius but at the end of the day he did write stories wheras Einstein literally changed the way we look at the world and indeed the universe.

Speedwell

Beethoven.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Timberrrrrrrr

Jawgap wrote: »

I think, I'll happily accept being corrected, Shakespeare's plays are dramatisations of historical events or stories told and conceived by others - so in that regard there's some lack of originality. His poetry is a different class altogether though.

Saying that, many of our everyday expressions originated from his plays....including that word so beloved of boards.ie.......RANT!!!

Anyway, Francis Bacon is the real Shakespearean genius; )

Hmmmmmmmm

Bacon

https://media4.giphy.com/media/AVilYmB74xhK/200w_d.gif

BalcombeSt4

Einstein, he invented the Satellite television.

Gwynplaine

Stupid thread. The two are unrelated. It's like asking, who's better, Michael Jordan or Michael Jackson?

Timberrrrrrrr

Gwynplaine wrote: »

Stupid thread. The two are unrelated. It's like asking, who's better, Michael Jordan or Michael Jackson?

MJ of course!

barneystinson

Tim Shearer wrote: »

I would go with Carl Friedrich Gauss ahead of them all, the greatest mathematcian of all time.

Not the ****ing question though is it!! :rolleyes:

Jawgap

Tim Shearer wrote: »

I would go with Carl Friedrich Gauss ahead of them all, the greatest mathematcian of all time.

Ah sure, Einstein, Gauss et al would all have been rightly goosed if al-Khwarizmi hadn't conceived algebra.......

"Pygmies on the shoulders of giants" as Newton would say

Sonics2k

TSMGUY wrote: »

So a great writer can never compare to a great scientist?

Not a chance.

TSMGUY

Permabear wrote: »

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Without the photoelectric effect House of Cards, and every other TV show, wouldn't even exist. It's like saying without Lyndon B Johnson we wouldn't have the character of Frank Underwood so he has more influence than the founding fathers, without whom we'd have no America to base HoC on. A strained analogy but that's an odd point to make Perma!

TSMGUY

Jawgap wrote: »

Ah sure, Einstein, Gauss et al would all have been rightly goosed if al-Khwarizmi hadn't conceived algebra.......

"Pygmies on the shoulders of giants" as Newton would say

Didn't he just say to piss off Robert Hooke, his short, hunchbacked nemesis? I don't think he genuinely meant it in humility.

Gauss isn't even close to Einstein. Einstein had originality up the wazoo, and that's what makes him better. He wasn't a particularly good mathematician by his own admission.

Skylinehead

Timberrrrrrrr wrote: »

Shakespear wrote stories Einstein invented things that changed the world

As far as I know, Einstein didn't invent anything notable. He was a physicist, not an inventor.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

Jawgap

TSMGUY wrote: »

Didn't he just say to piss off Robert Hooke, his short, hunchbacked nemesis? I don't think he genuinely meant it in humility.

Gauss isn't even close to Einstein. Einstein had originality up the wazoo, and that's what makes him better. He wasn't a particularly good mathematician by his own admission.

Maybe, but that doesn't make it untrue.

Every discovery is preceded or based on the work of generations that went before......as they say most discovery isn't heralded by the phrase "Eureka!!" it's heralded by "that's funny.........?"

Plus very few, if any discoveries, are universally and absolutely good.....they all have their darker, damaging side. For example, relativity makes GPS accuracies better than would otherwise be the case - which is great for navigating on my bike, not so much when it's used on a Tomahawk missile.

Tigerbaby

Shakespeare created universes from his imagination and left beauty in words which still have people in awe hundreds of years later.

He lit a fire in people which helped them understand the World and the Human Condition.


Einstein discovered things which were already there. He codified them.



There is no comparison. There are plenty of Einsteins, only one Shakespeare.

Jawgap

Tigerbaby wrote: »

Shakespeare created universes from his imagination and left beauty in words which still have people in awe hundreds of years later.

He lit a fire in people which helped them understand the World and the Human Condition.


Einstein discovered things which were already there. He codified them.



There is no comparison. There are plenty of Einsteins, only one Shakespeare.

History would suggest otherwise

Pherekydes

What about Newton or Darwin?

If Newton hadn't invented gravity we'd all be floating off into space.

If Darwin hadn't invented evolution we'd all still be monkeys.

Stephen King would be up there with Shakepeare and most of us despise the stuff Shakespeare wrote.

Tigerbaby

Augeo wrote: »

Stephen King would be up there with Shakepeare and most of us despise the stuff Shakespeare wrote.

Stephen King is a very good author in his field. There is room for McDonalds and haute cuisine in the world of books. Something for everyone's taste.


Why would you despise Shakespeare out of interest? Despise is a very subjective and strong word.

764dak

Einstein is a plagiarist.

Timberrrrrrrr

764dak wrote: »

Einstein is a plagiarist.

Some would say the same of Shakespeare though.

murpho999

Timberrrrrrrr wrote: »

Shakespear wrote stories Einstein invented things that changed the world

What exactly did Einstein invent?

Was the 'E' stolen off the end of Shakespeare and given to Einstein so he could MC Square it?

Permabear

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murpho999

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

No, they'll be reading Jo Jo Moyes and Cecilia Ahern.

The question is about genius so the answer is Einstein.

housetypeb

Timberrrrrrrr wrote: »

Don't get me wrong I'm not dismissing Shakespeare and there is no denying he was a literary genius but at the end of the day he did write stories wheras Einstein literally changed the way we look at the world and indeed the universe.

One could argue that Einstein,while a genius and way ahead of his time,discovered truths about the universe that were there to be uncovered anyway.
If not by him,other scientists would have figured it out step by step over time,maybe not in the great leap forward that Einstein gave us-but it would eventually be understood,that's the nature of science.

Shakespeare showed us what was in his imagination and brought it to life.
One is more unique than the other.

We are the music makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;—
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems.

Timberrrrrrrr

housetypeb wrote: »

One could argue that Einstein,while a genius and way ahead of his time,discovered truths about the universe that were there to be uncovered anyway.
If not by him,other scientists would have figured it out step by step over time,maybe not in the great leap forward that Einstein gave us-but it would eventually be understood,that's the nature of science.

Shakespeare showed us what was in his imagination and brought to it to life.
One is more unique than the other.

We are the music makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;—
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world for ever, it seems.

So did J.K.Rowling but I wouldn't put her on par with Einstein either

Jawgap

Permabear wrote: »

This post had been deleted.

Maybe, but they might still be watching the Shawshank Redemption

Shakespeare - Othello - "Then put up your pipes in your bag, for I'll away. Go; vanish into air; away!"

King - Shawshank Redemption - "Lord! It's a miracle! Man up and vanished like a fart in the wind!"

There are certain similarities!