Why Einstein Believed in Destiny
“I am a determinist. As such, I do not believe in free will.” — Einstein
I. Seemingly ‘Random’ Encounter
One sleepy morning while riding the 1 Train, I spotted a familiar face. Michio Kaku. With a leg crossed over his knee, here sat one of the world’s most famous professors — heading Uptown to CUNY.
We made eye contact. So I made a move.
“Ahem, Professor Kaku …” I blurted, holding eye contact in hopes of holding his attention. “Sir Isaac Newton discovered gravity. Einstein proved gravity. And so, riddle me this — who’s the greatest physicist of them all?”
Professor Kaku’s tight-lipped smile abruptly widened into a grin. I’d struck gold in the form of finding common ground. Apparently.
Perhaps he was somewhat caught off guard by such seeming randomness.
Indeed, what are the chances a seemingly random guy with dreadlocks — on a rattling subway car to boot — would stir up an old physics debate.
As fate would have it, though, Professor Kaku delights in “randomness.” He’s a quantum physicist, after all, whose life’s work consists of string theory — the very height of randomness.
