Genius Loves Company

By legend, Albert Einstein was a lone genius, coming up with ideas and concepts nobody else thought of. But according to a revealing article called “Not a Lone Genius” by CalTech professor Diana Kormos-Buchwald, the truth is more complicated. She based her article on The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, a 16-volume series of books co-edited by numerous scholars.

"He was not the genius working in an attic with a pen and paper," she says. "Einstein may not have been working with large teams, but he was deeply embedded in the science community. Colleagues gave him advice and encouragement, but also criticized his work. And he, in turn, was instrumental in guiding and challenging others."

(All of the volumes are now available in English and free in electronic formats.)

The article notes that Einstein developed his special theory of relativity in 1905 with help from his college friend Michele Besso and his first wife, Mileva Marić.

He later perfected his general theory of relativity in 1915 with help from both Besso and another college friend, mathematician Marcel Grossmann.

Perhaps most illustrative of all was his involvement in experiments with younger physicists to test the structure of radiation and matter, and ultimately the development of the ground-breaking field of quantum mechanics. When approached by one of his young colleagues about being listed as a co-author on an important paper on that topic, Einstein demurred:

"I just don't know whether I should count as a co-author since after all you did all the work..."

Einstein was a tinkerer and inventor of gadgets, including a patented refrigerating system. And he was an original thinker, who indeed came up with brilliant ideas. But perhaps his true genius was as a synthesizer, a collaborator, and a mentor of younger people.

And there might be a lesson in that for the rest of us.

(I published an earlier version of this one in 2021.)

HEADLINES:

• How a Hate Crime in a Southern City Foretold the Rise of the Far Right (NYT)

• The energy at the ‘No Kings’ protest felt different. The tide is turning. (WP)

• Trump Has Reawakened the Resistance (NYT)

• Americans want Medicaid and food stamps funding maintained or increased, AP-NORC poll shows (AP)

• Trump Leaves G7 Summit Early After Signing Call for Peace He Had Resisted (NYT)

• Trump wanted a military spectacle. Instead, he got a history lesson. (WP)

• Trump doubles down on expanding deportations in America's biggest cities (ABC)

• Trump directed ICE officials to prioritize deportations from Democratic-run cities after large protests have erupted in Los Angeles and other major cities against his immigration crackdown, prompting outrage. [AP]

• California Today: Immigration Raids Add to Absence Crisis for Schools (NYT)

• Putin Isn’t Actually Enjoying This (Atlantic)

• Israel, Iran trade deadly strikes for fourth day with no signs of restraint (Al Jazeera)

• Iran sought US pressure on Israel for ceasefire via Gulf states, sources say (Reuters)

• The suspect in the shooting of 2 Minnesota lawmakers had a 'hit list' of 45 officials (NPR)

• Chilling details emerge in Minnesota shootings as Vance Boelter faces federal charges: 'Stuff of nightmares' (ABC)

• Warning over 'dirty secret' of toxic chemicals on farmers' fields (BBC)

• Some Meta AI users are unwittingly sharing their mortifying conversations. (WP)

• GOP Lawmakers Clarify Their Hate-Filled Rhetoric Only Meant To Stoke Fundraising (The Onion)

Fatherhood

On a windy Sunday evening, I stood alone at the kitchen window and watched the sun go down over the coastal range at the northern edge of San Francisco Bay.

At times like this that stretch of water gleams like liquified silver. 

It was Father’s Day. Earlier, my two youngest came by and took me out for brunch at a nearby cafe in Richmond. My daughter, who’s 26, had been at yesterday’s “No Kings” demonstration in the city. She’s pursuing a Master’s Degree in industrial design.

My son, who’s 29, and just recovered from Covid, holds a Master’s Degree in history and works as a researcher for a Japanese media company.

They talked to me about their reservations about having children of their own, given the state of the world. “At least for now, I’m not planning on having any,” my son said. “That might change.”

My daughter nodded. “Same for me.”

I indicated I understood why they felt this way. These are scary times. Not only does human-induced climate change loom as an existential threat over their futures, AI now presents a human-made existential threat as well.

Wars rage in the Middle East and Ukraine in conflicts that may worsen and spread. Authoritarian regimes are on the rise all over the world, notably here in the U.S. where migrant families are being ripped apart by the cruelest president in our nation’s history. 

Each day brings more disturbing headlines on many fronts.

It is hard to plan a career at their ages with so much instability and technological disruption in all economic sectors. Finances are a constant concern, as in the prohibitive cost of housing here in the Bay Area.

Long after they had left and returned to the city, I stood at that window and shuddered. It was not cold in the house but I felt my tremors returning. In some ways, there’s no lonelier time than a Sunday night.

The wind picked up, rustling the purple leaves of a plum tree. The bamboo swayed and Mount Tam drifted above the haze to the west. It was a strangely beautiful moment.

I watched a flock of birds fly westward toward the setting sun. A line from one of those Jurassic Park movies popped into my head.

“Life, uh, finds a way.”

(Art by Julia)

HEADLINES:

• Close Trump Allies Sponsored the Military Parade, Raising Ethical Concerns (NYT)

• Should Political Violence Be Addressed Like a Threat to Public Health? (New Yorker)

• Suspect in Minnesota Attacks Is Detained, Ending Manhunt (NYT)

• Who Is Vance Boelter? The Minnesota Lawmaker Shooting Suspect (WSJ)

• Roommate details Minnesota shooting suspect’s life as authorities search near abandoned car (WP)

• Netanyahu says ‘we’ll do what we need to do’ with Iran’s leader (Financial Times)

• Trump says 'it's possible' US gets involved in Israel-Iran conflict (ABC)

• Investors unnerved as Israel-Iran conflict fuels turmoil in oil markets (Reuters)

• Israel’s attack on Iran marks moment of truth for Netanyahu (AP)

• Takeaways From Trump’s Military Parade in Washington (NYT)

• It wasn’t just the parade: This week, Trump politicized the military (WP)

• Gunman Opens Fire on ‘No Kings’ Protest in Salt Lake City (Daily Beast)

• Americans don't see Supreme Court as politically neutral, Reuters/Ipsos poll finds (Reuters)

• L.A. neighborhoods clear out as immigration raids send people underground (LAT)

• Trump Shifts Deportation Focus, Pausing Most Raids on Farms, Hotels and Eateries (NYT)

• Padilla says FBI agent, Guard member escorted him to Noem's briefing before removal (Axios)

• Washington Post in talks with Substack about using its writers (Guardian)

• The Ad Industry’s A.I. Reckoning (NYT)

• Protesters Urged Not To Give Trump Administration Pretext For What It Already Doing (The Onion)

MUSIC:

Blake Shelton & Shakira singing-"Need You Now" 

Getting Wired.5

(This is the final in a five-part series)

Sometime later in 1997, along with the arrival of cooler weather and light rain in San Francisco came the final plans for a house-cleaning at Wired Inc. The in-house coup d'é·tat would result in the removal of scores of people, including the founders Louis Rossetto and Jane Metcalfe.

In their stead, the company was going to be dismantled and sold off in pieces. The founders would be rewarded with a fair amount of compensation for their efforts, so they would be “fine.“ Not so much everyone else.

Near the top of the corporate hit list was my name. The very fact that made me irreplaceable in the old order — my relationship with Louis — made me all too disposable in the new one.

I was to be replaced, naturally, by one of the worst sycophants always clamoring for my time in one-on-ones. 

So, on a late afternoon when the sun was going down to the west, suddenly and strangely there were no further meetings on my calendar. It was wide open. Then I was summoned to Louis’s office. 

I walked in to see three people waiting, none of smiling. Just three senior execs stiff and grim in manner. I was thanked for my service, given a small severance check, and summarily dismissed. 

Louis was one of the three and he looked immensely sad. But he had nothing to say. This was not of his doing. And that, I suppose, is the end of my story at Wired.

Unlike most of the other difficult transitions in my life, I had prepared myself emotionally as much as possible for this one. I’d packed up my family pictures and prepared my goodbye message. As I drove away from 660 Third Street, however, with tears in my eyes, I realized that you never can fully prepare for losing someone or something you love. 

EPILOGUE

Perhaps the most significant accomplishment during my tenure on Third Street was Wired News, which survived the purge in 1997 and exists to this day.

And in one of life’s strange ironic twists, my oldest daughter, who would soon become an award-winning journalist herself, worked as as an intern at Wired News during the first decade of the new millennium.

Apparently none of her colleagues knew that her father had been one of the executives involved in creating their company or what that experience had been like. 

Many years later, now that our society has become divided by conspiracy theories, fake news and social media demagogues, I remember how hard in the 1990s a few of us tried to prevent that outcome.

I’d be less than truthful if I said we fully anticipated how bad the media collapse would turn out to be. We saw the danger signs, but we could not imagine the world as it’s turned out to be.

The problem is once the old media world — like Humpty Dumpty — teetered and fell off of the great digital wall of the Internet and burst into a thousand pieces, how could we ever put it together again?

The answer is, sadly, I don’t think we can.

(Dedicated to all the Wiredlings, especially John, Mary and Susanna.)

HEADLINES:

• 'No Kings' protests against Trump take place across US ahead of military parade (BBC)

• A weekend of protests in the U.S. (Reuters)

• Anti-Trump demonstrators crowd streets, parks and plazas across the US. Organizers say millions came (AP)

• No Kings protests Bay Area: What the massive crowd in San Francisco looked like (SFC)

• Photos: "No Kings" protests take over downtown Chicago (Axios)

• The Shame of Trump’s Parade (Atlantic)

• At-large suspect identified in targeted shooting of Minnesota lawmakers (WP)

• After Sitting Out the Iran Attack, U.S. Steps In to Help Israel Intercept Missiles (WSJ)

• Iran and Israel continue strikes; imminent nuclear talks called off, official says (WP)

• Much of Iran’s Nuclear Program Remains After Israel’s Strikes. At Least for Now. (NYT)

• A painful wait in Ukraine (Reuters)

• 2024 Broke the Democrats. Can They Put Themselves Back Together? (Reveal)

• Suspect in Hortman’s assassination visited international hotspots, has ties to private security firms (MPR)

• ChatGPT Tells Users to Alert the Media That It Is Trying to ‘Break’ People: Report (Gizmodo)

• Google reportedly plans to cut ties with Scale AI (TechCrunch)

• Meta AI users confide on sex, God and Trump. Some don’t know it’s public. (WP)

• Trump Mouths Lyrics To ‘Happy Birthday’ While National Anthem Plays (The Onion)

MUSIC:

Kacey Musgraves - Follow Your Arrow (Live at the Grand Ole Opry)