To be insane or not to be?

[CaptWalker]

~ "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." {Albert Einstein}

So I was just wondering what anyone else thinks about this and is it something a true Christian should even give any credence to since Einstein was an avowed Agnostic, so then what makes his opinion so legitimate and infallible?? I guess i'm really asking this because i was just wondering what exactly he meant by it, and would it go so far as even to include someone who is commuting almost an hour everyday to a job they do not like and yet still expecting that they will eventually get used to it? Well i know what it means to me but am more curious as to how many others there are out there like myself...? And in case the title heading threw you off, i do often think of Shakespeare and Einstein as being very much alike since they were both very enlightened thinkers...even if not very spiritually minded.

Edited January 7, 2020 by CaptWalker

[Galleon]

The definition differs from person to person. Same thing with "time" or "fate". Words for vague concepts that can't be truly and strictly defined. In that sense, the quote is both right and wrong. The meaning is pretty straightforward. You peel a potato and expect to be greeted by a different colored inside each time, but true to life, it's just beige because it's a potato. Science is a bunch of trial and error and I can imagine it being fairly tedious at times.

As for the job thing, if you aren't enjoying it, I'd try to find work elsewhere. Closer than an hour away, at that.

[LonerAndy]

57 minutes ago, CaptWalker said:

~ "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." {Albert Einstein}

So I was just wondering what anyone else thinks about this and is it something a true Christian should even give any credence to since Einstein was an avowed Agnostic, so then what makes his opinion so legitimate and infallible?? I guess i'm really asking this because i was just wondering what exactly he meant by it, and would it go so far as even to include someone who is commuting almost an hour everyday to a job they do not like and yet still expecting that they will eventually get used to it? Well i know what it means to me but am more curious as to how many others there are out there like myself...? And in case the title heading threw you off, i do often think of Shakespeare and Einstein as being very much alike since they were both very enlightened thinkers...even if not very spiritually minded.

I was not aware that anyone thought that Einstein was infallible.

However, generally when you test a statement a hundred times, and it never fails.... then you can expect that the statement is generally true.  Many of Einsteins theories have been tested many millions of times, and never found to be wrong.   That typically gives credibility to the person making the statements.

Now as it relates to the statement being quoted above... I actually never thought it was attributed to Einstein.

But regardless of who said it, it is basically true.   Doing the same thing you did before, and expecting some completely different result, is not very logical.

You know what your job is.  You know what you are going to do.  If you keep doing the same job, you'll keep getting the same results.

 

[AnOrangeCat]

I honestly just interpret it as a humorous quote that has a grain of truth to it. Einstein was a pretty smart guy in a lot of respects. I'm pretty sure he understood that actual insanity is a complicated thing that can manifest in many different ways, thus the likelihood that he never meant for it to be taken seriously.

[johnthebaptist]

18 hours ago, CaptWalker said:

~ "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." {Albert Einstein}

So I was just wondering what anyone else thinks about this and is it something a true Christian should even give any credence to since Einstein was an avowed Agnostic, so then what makes his opinion so legitimate and infallible?? I guess i'm really asking this because i was just wondering what exactly he meant by it, and would it go so far as even to include someone who is commuting almost an hour everyday to a job they do not like and yet still expecting that they will eventually get used to it? Well i know what it means to me but am more curious as to how many others there are out there like myself...? And in case the title heading threw you off, i do often think of Shakespeare and Einstein as being very much alike since they were both very enlightened thinkers...even if not very spiritually minded.

What Albert said might be good advice in most situations, but don't put his words on par with biblical teachings.

[CaptWalker]

I agree that probably almost anything he has ever said was not based on any Biblical principles, except maybe just incidentally being a similar idea. And I wasn't insinuating that he was "infallible" in any way but only that he may have been viewed that way as far as many of his theories are concerned. And as far as the quote itself, I just had always assumed it was about doing any useless task over and over with the same result, like an "exercise in futility", which obviously doesn't mean you're insane for doing such things. But the problem is actually when you start to think those results may suddenly change at anytime. But isn't that like saying the opposite of "practice makes perfect", like someone who is a terrible free-throw shooter, and so keeps at it everyday to try and improve.(Well unless your Shaq?) But there are many NBA players who have become very good 3-point shooters just by constant practicing. But i think Einstein was referring to something else, but what that was i am still not sure?

[BeauJangles]

To be insane or not to be?

20 hours ago, CaptWalker said:

~ "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." {Albert Einstein}

So I was just wondering what anyone else thinks about this and is it something a true Christian should even give any credence to since Einstein was an avowed Agnostic, so then what makes his opinion so legitimate and infallible?? I guess i'm really asking this because i was just wondering what exactly he meant by it, and would it go so far as even to include someone who is commuting almost an hour everyday to a job they do not like and yet still expecting that they will eventually get used to it? Well i know what it means to me but am more curious as to how many others there are out there like myself...? And in case the title heading threw you off, i do often think of Shakespeare and Einstein as being very much alike since they were both very enlightened thinkers...even if not very spiritually minded.

what? 

[BeauJangles]

26 minutes ago, CaptWalker said:

I agree that probably almost anything he has ever said was not based on any Biblical principles, except maybe just incidentally being a similar idea. And I wasn't insinuating that he was "infallible" in any way but only that he may have been viewed that way as far as many of his theories are concerned. And as far as the quote itself, I just had always assumed it was about doing any useless task over and over with the same result, like an "exercise in futility", which obviously doesn't mean you're insane for doing such things. But the problem is actually when you start to think those results may suddenly change at anytime. But isn't that like saying the opposite of "practice makes perfect", like someone who is a terrible free-throw shooter, and so keeps at it everyday to try and improve.(Well unless your Shaq?) But there are many NBA players who have become very good 3-point shooters just by constant practicing. But i think Einstein was referring to something else, but what that was i am still not sure?

Pardon my sleep deprived state of being. Apparently, that's not allowed here, or so I was just informed. I'm attempting to make sense of these posts but not finding any in either of your meanderings. What is this jumble of miss-matched ramblings all about anyway? 

[CaptWalker]

Well i was originally trying to get some new insights on just what Einstein meant by this and what prompted him to say it, such as simply doing scientific experiments which always turned out the same or maybe it went deeper than that? But apparently only those who are very familiar with his life and who he was would be able to answer that? Other than that these "ramblings" are basically what you might call having nothing better to do... 

[Dennis1209]

On 1/7/2020 at 4:11 PM, CaptWalker said:

~ "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." {Albert Einstein}

So I was just wondering what anyone else thinks about this and is it something a true Christian should even give any credence to since Einstein was an avowed Agnostic, so then what makes his opinion so legitimate and infallible?? I guess i'm really asking this because i was just wondering what exactly he meant by it, and would it go so far as even to include someone who is commuting almost an hour everyday to a job they do not like and yet still expecting that they will eventually get used to it? Well i know what it means to me but am more curious as to how many others there are out there like myself...? And in case the title heading threw you off, i do often think of Shakespeare and Einstein as being very much alike since they were both very enlightened thinkers...even if not very spiritually minded.

Einstein was correct and in good company with his observation. It's a fact of history repeated over and over again, it's cyclic and always repeated. I could cite many examples, as many philosophers have already done. To cite just one of many examples, communism, socialism and tyranny with governments and controlling people. It's been done over and over again with the same results, so a different 'form' of socialism is developed, but it's the same thing; it always ends in failure. Same way with Utopian societies. It's even mentioned in the Bible in a few places, this one comes immediately to mind:

Ecclesiastes 1:9 (KJV) The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it  ~  George Santayana

Should we give any credence to these statements? 

Luke 17:26 (KJV) And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man.

The above is just one of many biblical examples of a repeat. Should a Christian pay attention and know what the days of Noah were like?