Einstein in California: 3 Winters in the Sun

The way the content is represented in Einstein in California: Three Winters in the Sun more realistically portrays Einstein’s life than a regular biography. Because there isn’t a specific flow to exploring the particle streams of the interactive video, there isn’t a directed way to learn about his life. Multiple categories of his life were happening at once (political activism while hobnobbing with celebrities while conducting scientific research) this interactive method allowed a better understanding to be established about his multifaceted life. At first, the strange sounds in the background made me feel as if I were in an alternate reality while learning about his life, but as I got used to it, I started likening it to more of a reflective world. I also began paying attention to the fact that a lot of the strange sounds were coming from string instruments, which reminded me of Einstein’s love of playing the violin in his free time.

Personally, I agree with Einstein’s actions concerning the atomic bomb. He knew that the Germans were pursuing the technology of the atomic bomb and felt it was pressing that the US have the technology before the “bad guys” did. I never realized how much guilt he must have felt concerning the use of such a destructive technology. I liked this quote that summed up his feelings on the subject:

“We scientists, whose tragic destiny it has been to help make the methods of annihilation ever more gruesome and more effective, must consider it our solemn and transcendent duty to do all in our power to prevent those weapons from being used for the brutal purpose for which they were invented.”
-Albert Einstein, 1948

Though it must have been hard living with the knowledge of the possibilities of the atomic bomb, I think he made the correct decision in encouraging Roosevelt to develop the bomb. With the catastrophic events that were happening during the holocaust, the idea of the Nazis having such a devastating power in their arsenal gives me chills. As we discussed in our last class, I think that new inventions will always be created if there is the knowledge of how to do so. The scary part about it all is wondering what kind of people will be the holders of that technology. Cloning, for example, can be used to clone and entire being, which brings up ethical questions like whether or not that cloned person should have the same rights as the original being and if it’s even right for humans to be playing the part of God. On the other hand, though, cloning body parts might allow thousands to live when no other organs are available for an emergency transplant. So although the atomic bomb had devastating effects on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, I think the possibility of allowing the Nazis to have that technology would have been far worse.