Albert Einstein is quoted as saying, "We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to survive." But, in exactly what context did he say this, and what follow-up did he, or have others, contributed to explaining such a "new manner of thinking". Certainly, a new way of thinking/acting would exclude petty Selfishness, and include a logic (logos) that transcends a narrow True/False mentality. Was Einstein, in fact, referring to Love as that new way of thinking/behaving?
The true value of a human being is determined by the measure and the sense in which they have obtained liberation from the self. We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if humanity is to survive. Einstein said these words in 1954, but what he said then about the state of humanity is as true today as it was then.
Imo, this statement resembles the Spinozian view of human liberation from the self by reason.
I would like to contribute to this question by thanking Dear Francisco Di Biase for his kindness in sharing this meaningful discussion with me. These words of Albert Einstein reflect his attitude towards the difficulties faced by humanity at that time. He was a deep thinker in the fields of science and philosophy, and he attached great importance to ethics and moral values, as well as science, to improve the human condition.
We can interpret what Einstein meant by "a new way of thinking" as humanity reaching a greater level of consciousness and developing an understanding that transcends narrow-mindedness, selfishness, war and conflict. This new way of thinking encourages more peaceful and inclusive approaches to solving individual and social problems.
Einstein was enthusiastic about the 5-D Kaluza extension to his GR, but not how Klein quantized it in single discrete points. Einstein believed in a real 5th-D that is spatial but extended (see Einstein-Bergmann, 1938), the embedding manifold for his GR 4-D space-time. In order to utilize the truth of this we have to start thinking in terms of a higher spatial dimension and how that affects us. That is how I have unified the quantum and GR. See my papers here and at Academia.edu. I have used this structure to develop a complete physical theory of life, mind and consciousness.
I do agree with @Stephen Ternyik that "human liberation from the self" is the ultimate solution. When a sufficient number of humans have attained such liberation, a "new manner of thinking" will emerge. Until then, we each contribute what "unselfishness" and "peacefulness" we can offer to a new human consciousness. Reason is important, but so is our collective Heart.
I consider @Eda Alemdar's answer most consistent with my own interpretation of Einstein. She describes many ingredients of that "new manner of thinking" -- those needed not only for our survival, but for our "thrival" (thriving) -- in what I trust is an emerging, more loving, kinder consciousness for HumanKind.
I consider @Eda Alemdar's answer most consistent with my own interpretation of Einstein. She describes many ingredients of that "new manner of thinking" -- those needed not only for our survival, but for our "thrival" (thriving) -- in what I trust is an emerging, more loving, kinder consciousness for HumanKind.
At the end of my original question, I suspected that Einstein may have been implying that Love was a major ingredient in the "new manner of thinking". Recently, I recalled that Einstein actually referred to the "Universal Force of Love" in a letter, allegedly to his daughter (written 1932, published 1980):
https://youtu.be/sBGQjmuq8cs?si=yh6ud86-dMSDuiFd
https://youtu.be/8S6HHzrZ9Pw?si=J6xqN1FUNUq2KbA3
In the first video, at 1:25-1:40 minutes, we hear Einstein's belief: "Love is power because it multiplies the best we have and allows humanity not to be extinguished by their blind selfishness"." Indeed, in 1932, he actually answered the question he posed publically in 1954!
Why is it that sages/writers/singers have spoken/written/sung of Love and its power throughout history, yet Science seems slow to recognize/hypothesize/test this power?
Good day, enthusiasts and space comrades; IMHO a brief, I say brief due to its not anywhere close to being complete, no. Not in the least. Meaning to be from the beginning - or not too long duration following - an entire treatise of various aspects of living outlininng sane manners for behaviour, and favourable technologies, and simply and most succintly wrtoe; normal living, in the context of a human. Or, a term I prefer is and persons lviing or observing and deifing and judging and conducting their hevaiour in this manner are realists. Like the Egyptians. Wherever they may be, booyyah!
Book The NOTES! To bring about a sane way of Life and Living. All...
And my website, also;
https://executingreality.com/
ENJOY!!! Good day!
Happy Sunday!
Great topic, and some thing we cant avoid, as I see new essential way of thinking comes from the realization that we need a different approach and consciousness level for understanding deep networks, an entangled ecology we live in, any kind of false separation and selfish utility optimization thinking will destroy us, even more rapidly than ever.... we need to approach ecology from a complex adaptive systems view... even individually our reasoning is more comprehensive than Boolean logic framework... and certainly love and empathy for suffering...
Thank you, S. Patra, for putting it so bluntly: "... any kind of false separation and selfish utility optimization thinking will destroy us". Yes, each of us instances of Humanity is inextricably entangled with our species, Human Sapien Sapien. If we are live up our sapien "wisdom", then we must recognize that "we all part of the Continent", as poet John Donne claimed. And, in a most practical way, let us heed Nobel-winner John Nash's finding that: The group does best when it optimizes for all of its members. We simply need to expand our "group" to all of Humanity, and optimize for the whole Humanity.
Great topic, I will be quite interested in the new logic framework, which can be a true alternative to selfish optimization research which is further based on True/ False Binary logic
There are excellent examples of non Binary logics from Eastern Wisdom traditions, one which I am working on with Scientist Partha Ghose is Syadvada logic from Jain philosophy, where un-manifest is also a legitimate truth value of a proposition.. this framework is intrinsically contextual
@Sudip Patra, "Syadvada logic" from Jainism sounds promising. Can you summarize its essence in a paragraph or two?
I've done work on a non-Boolean logic of "qNumbers" (reference below) where qM is the status quo, qN is a counter thesis, and their product is their synthesis:
qM x qN = qM + qN + q(M+N).
Such "synthesizing of viewpoints allows for a "growing ontology" where the resultant view of both sides is enhanced, i.e., "each side gains something" in the new view! Such a logic goes beyond a Win-Lose logic toward an effective Win-Win logic. I believe this kind of "Love-logic" embraces the essence of the "new manner of thinking" that Einstein had in mind.
Does "Syadvada logic" contain a similar aspect? Please elaborate on how it works.
Reference: "Creating a Quality World Using 'Heartful Dialog' and qNumbers"
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