Myanmar, Singapore, Entrepreneurs and Einstein

on September 22, 2011

1. Myanmar has been in the news these days.
2. So has Singapore.
3. Entrepreneurs.
   According to a recent BusinessWeek report(last week, maybe), entrepreneurs in China are worried that if they do something nice and new, Tencent will just copy those innovations, and entrepreneurs in America are worried that if they do something nice and new, Google will buy them out.
4. Maybe I am worried that I am chicken and dumb and maybe I am projecting my own fearfulness and cluelessness on to Myanmar, Singapore, and entrepreneurs worldwide.

I am copying some lines from WikiQuote about Einstein.

The most fundamental question we can ever ask ourselves is whether or not the universe we live in is friendly or hostile.
This has been quoted in a relatively few places on the internet, but seems to have no earlier source than an obscure web essay "Reinventing Failure: Designing Success" by Harald Anderson, where the statement seems to have been a loose summation of Einstein's ideas rather than a quote: "Albert Einstein once commented that the most fundamental question we can ever ask ourselves is whether or not the universe we live in is friendly or hostile. He hypothesized that your answer to that question would determine your destiny.
Quoted in Morris Berman: Coming to Our Senses (1989) pp. 41


I don't know what his conclusions were and I won't bother.

Einstein is famous for his Thought Experiments. All I would ask him is to do some such experiments on this topic.

Thought Experiment 1. Einstein jump from a 2nd or 3rd floor of a building.
Result 1. The earth, part of the Universe breaks his bones or neck.
Conclusion 1. The Universe is not friendly.

Thought Experiment 2. Einstein stay on a 2nd or 3rd floor of a building.
Result 2. The earth, the sky, the wind as parts of the Universe pose no danger.
Conclusion 2. The Universe is not malevolent.

Thought Experiment 3. Another person jump from a 2nd or 3rd floor of a building.
Thought Experiment 4. Another person stay on a 2nd or 3rd floor of a building.
More or less similar results.
Conclusion 3. The Universe is neutral.
Conclusion 4. The Universe is not playing dice.

1. When we don't know the rules of something , we call it "magic", "quantum", "indeterminate", "chaos" etc.
2. When we know a bit, we call it History.
3. When we know a lot, we call it Physics. (Paraphrasing Prof Chomsky on linguistics.)

What does Physics say about Myanmar, Singapore and Entrepreneurs?
What does History say about Myanmar, Singapore and Entrepreneurs?

I am a Myanmar living in Singapore and working as an entrepreneur. I am sleeping nice and easy.

You, guys and gals also, go sleep, nice and easy.

Universe is not so friendly but principled/principle-governed.