Comments on: Einstein never said that…

By: Rob

Rob — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 21:29:51 +0000

Thanks for this! Took me forever to dig the article up even in this day and age but worth it.

By: Rob

Rob — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 21:28:43 +0000

I'm glad I didn't just take the UK government at face value and borrow a quotation from one of their publications without checking the source now! Not only do I have a more accurate reference, the article quoted below by David that contained the original Chene reference has made a perfect introduction to my dissertation proposal on ICT in Education. Cheers guys!

By: JohnD

JohnD — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 00:41:05 +0000

A really great post, an interesting point well written.

You just earned yourself a reader =)

By: Doug

Doug — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 00:33:02 +0000

Came across your blog on the Einstein computer quote while researching another, ascribed to AE without citation numerous times on the net: “I never came upon any of my discoveries through the process of rational thinking.” So far, I've written a dozen people, including the Princeton U Library. It isn't in the “new quotable Einstein” book, and not listed in the wikiquote discussion – although I've posted a query.
Thanks for raising the bar, Ben.

By: benshoemate

benshoemate — Sat, 05 Jun 2010 08:34:39 +0000

Thanks – I think we are getting closer. But somehow I find it hard to
believe that these obscure journals were the orginal source and that
they all said the same thing with such consistancy.

By: Toddulus

Toddulus — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 10:45:49 +0000

Computers are extremely fast, accurate and stupid. Human beings are notoriously slow, sloppy and highly intelligent. When the intelligence of humans is coupled with the speed and accuracy of computers, data processing that far outreaches anything in the past becomes possible.

Robert O' Conner, Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, April 1968, Pipping Cherme by two months.

http://journals.lww.com/joem/Citation/1968/0400...

By: Tiffany

Tiffany — Wed, 19 May 2010 23:49:54 +0000

I have the Einstein quotes of the day on my desktop and after reading this one thought that gee I didn't know computers were around at the time Einstein was alive and were FAST. I am glad there are people out there who were smart enough to figure out that Einstein probably didn't say that and have done some actual research. Thanks for posting this. I thought it was very helpful and also informative as to its possible origin.

By: WWWebb

WWWebb — Tue, 11 May 2010 18:10:46 +0000

Shoemate said: “I think it will be a neat experiment to see how easily a worldwide misconception can be corrected.”

I think it's been tried millions of times over the course of history, and, human nature being what it is, it has been proven to be exceedingly difficult.

By: Will

Will — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 15:39:15 +0000

Thank you for this research. I have forwarded the link on to the creator of iGoogle's 'Einstein Quote of the Day' widget, after seeing this quote on it and wishing to discover the origins.

By: kristyna_g

kristyna_g — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 03:51:50 +0000

Much appreciated… I strongly suspected this was NOT a quote of his – as I frequently refer to his sayings. Im glad I didn't have to dig as much as you in order to prove my point to a fellow misquoter.

By: benshoemate

benshoemate — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 11:18:58 +0000

Thanks for the info! I think we are close enough to an answer to call
this one for Leo Cherne – someone should add this source to wikipedia

By: benshoemate

benshoemate — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 03:18:58 +0000

Thanks for the info! I think we are close enough to an answer to call
this one for Leo Cherne – someone should add this source to wikipedia

By: David

David — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:24:59 +0000

The end of the following article attributes the pseudo-Einstein quote to Leo Cherne in 1968; if accurate, it may be earlier than the 1969 Advances in Instrumentation quote -- one would have to determine when the authors of the latter article wrote it.
( http://www.jstor.org/stable/20373101?seq=2 ):
Computer Science: A Neglected Area in Schools of Education
Gary D. Brooks
The Phi Delta Kappan, Vol. 53, No. 2 (Oct., 1971), pp. 121-122

The citation is: Remarks by Leo Cherne at the Discover America Meeting, Brussels, June 27, 1968.

I have not yet found further references to that meeting.

By: DeboraBrod

DeboraBrod — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 13:13:32 +0000

I don't think that BlogJet is the best to try webs on. I'd rather tell you to try Drupal solutions because they manage sites, either they belong to Rupert Murdoch or to anyone. And of course Einstein never said that... because he wouldn't agree with internet first of all.

By: nash xioh

nash xioh — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 23:45:28 +0000

any information that you want to look about einstein is in google.try wikipedia

By: stevestart

stevestart — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 20:28:47 +0000

I found the book. I am using it in a paper. It can be obtained from The University of Michigan. Here's how I am writing it up for a research paper - and I agree with you. Anyone who attributes the quote to Einstein is a fool...
-------------------
Albert Einstein is alleged by a number of websites to have said, “Computers are incredibly fast, accurate, and stupid. Human beings are incredibly slow, inaccurate, and brilliant. Together they are powerful beyond imagination.” The only problem with this attribution is that it has no foundation. There are no references to scholarly articles, books or even speeches proving that Einstein ever said it. Conversely, in the late 1960’s two engineers wrote “Computers are incredibly fast, accurate and stupid. On the other hand, a well trained operator as compared with a computer is incredibly slow, inaccurate and brilliant.” The authors don’t speculate what happens when the two are placed together other than to note that the combination may result in “intelligent override” of the “control system.”

References:
1. http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/29628.html
2. Couture, H. D. and Keyes, M.A. (1969). A paper industry application of systems engineering and direct digital control. Journal of Advances in Instrumentation, V. 24, Part 4, p. 691-4.

By: itjobs1

itjobs1 — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 12:14:01 +0000

Thanks for sharing the information. I am very amazed at the confidence level of you guys, so i have to refer your blog to my friends because it’s really a help full blog.
thank you

By: classic video games

classic video games — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 22:39:00 +0000

Hi Ben,
How long did this investigation take? Wow!
Great post… but you know after doing all this you might deserve taking the credit for the quote
… I was one of those sites you left a comment at and followed the link here. Thanks for the info

By: benshoemate

benshoemate — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:44:50 +0000

Thanks! I went to the site and set them straight. Stop the lies!

By: Akilli

Akilli — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 18:37:03 +0000

Thanks for posting this. I just read this quote in an article on the Huffington Post : http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carl-honore/in-pr... and I immediately thought that Einstein couldn't possibly have said it. The behemoths he might have been familiar with were being used to calculate missile trajectories – not even an area a pacifist like Einstein would have sullied himself. Even if the computers of his day were not the size of Walmart, his thinking, which was largely intuitive and visceral, would not have required them. None of his fundamental research was computationally dense, except in symbol manipulation.