Tell me: what does the phrase "ahead of his time" mean to you; or does this comm

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   wingedcentaurposted 13 years ago

   Tell me: what does the phrase "ahead of his time" mean to you; or does this commonly heard...
   
   expression REALLY have any true meaning? To what extent was Einstein "ahead of his time"; Was their anything about "his time," do you think, which made it possible for him to one day realize that E = MC2?

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2. 59

   Pedrotoonposted 13 years ago

   For me, 'ahead of his time' is usually said when somebody does something that was outside the box. Something that before he/she did it, was completely unthinkable.
   
   They are of course only labelled this when they are either nearing death or long gone, when people look back and say look at this person doing something that nobody else in that time was doing.
   
   Even more commonly, football fans will look back at players like Pele, Maradona and Best and say 'he was ahead of his time' because they were doing things that at that time were unbelievable but today are close to the norm.

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   alberichposted 13 years ago

   To me it means that a person think or act in a manner that are new but do not conform to present norms or beliefs in society. The expression "his time" really should be "our time" but it implies that every person has, in some sense, a decided time and play to act on in society. "Ahead" means that he plays a part on the stage before it should be played.
   
   Yes Einstein probably had a clue of what he started to understand before he could express it in the formula.(before “his time”) To define and prove something scientifically is both a way to test its truth but also a language of communicating it to others. This is especially important in a paradigm shift. Science is to some extent just conformity between scientists. He was then ahead of his time in the meaning that he still couldnt prove it by a formula. This must have been important to him otherwise he would not put the effort to it.
   
   Yes, conformity in a more or less totalitarian way was an absolute norm both in society and science, during the era of Einstein’s work with the relativity theory.  That might have suppressed many other scientists to think out of the box. After his breakthrough science came to a complete turn into alternative thinking by Bohr and others.
   
   Much more can be said but I leave it to others.
   
   Thank You for your question!
   Bless You

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