misc abstract

Our perception of almost everything we do, tangible or abstract, follows this golden rule. We may judge people, quantify usefulness of a product or evaluate a blog. No matter what we do, we have to have a standard or something similar to compare our ideas with. For example, there is no such thing as absolute happiness; we are always in pursuit of being more happy than in the past.

As humans, we are constantly evaluating what direction we are headed in. A beautiful quote by Charles Simoni sums up the idea very well:

Susan: Why is it taking so much time for progress to occur with computers:

Charles: Because a lot of dumb ideas have to die first. That’s why progress takes time. First, new ideas have to evolve, then the bad ideas that stop the progress have to die. Even with relativity and quantum mechanics, the good ideas had to crystallize. And then people with vested interest in the old physics had to die out.

How do we evaluate our progress and what stops the progress today ? Evaluation of the progress itself needs a benchmark to verify if there is any change and if there is a change, whether it is positive or negative. What are the factors stopping us from the change. The factors mentioned, again are benchmarked against each other to qualify them as bad ideas and good ideas.

Relativity is what defines progress. Relativity is what defines what is good and what is bad. In absence of all good ideas, one of the bad idea would automatically become good in relative terms. Hence, the phrase "Relativity is Absolute".