(February 12, 2016 at 11:02 am)Aractus Wrote: The truly astonishing thing is not that a gravitational wave has been measured, but that Einstein worked out such counter-intuitive theories without the benefit of building on other's ideas (i.e. Newton's).
Says you! I'd only agree with this partially because of my species notoriously flawed perceptions, and you cant get to Einstein's level or Hawkings level without that skepticism. I think both are amazing.
But I fail to see how he didn't build on Newton, he certainly thought there was more to it than Newton, but to get further he certainly had to learn what Newton did. QM doesn't negate Newton, it is just that you cant use classical physics at the QM scale. Just like we still have bicycles and still make them, but you cant apply a bicycle tire to a Lamborghini. Science always builds upon the past. Einstein simply made a correction in our perceptions. No Newton no Einstein to update Newton.
