Einstein Quote or Hoax/Rumor?, page 1

Einstein Quote or Hoax/Rumor?, page 1

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ATS Members have flagged this thread 8 times

Topic started on 22-4-2007 @ 08:06 PM by greatlakes

Is this a true quote by Albert Einstein or is it an urban legend/Hoax quote to capitalize on the disappearing bees phenomenon thats happening now?

Supposed Einstein Quote:
"If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe,
then man would only have four years of life left."

Reason is if he did say this, it's a pretty amazing quote. It would mean he was thinking on these terms, and perhaps thinking about the grand scale ecosystem how the bee benefits.

If he did not say this, someone is fabricating a hoax, or a rumor somehow got started, and we at ATS would be documenting a new urban legend or hoax!

I mean this quote is getting thrown around in some pretty mainstream ways. The media is even reporting it as such! Discovery Channel Europe is using it as one of their TV commercials!

Impetus for starting such a hoax? The disappearing bee phenomenon, estimates are that HALF of the bee population in the US has died.
My thread "Are Cell Phones Wiping Out Our Bees" also contains some great info:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

So what do you think, actually it shouldn't be a question...This should be able to be debunked in short order by the ats'ers here. Is this an Einstein Quote or hoax/rumor???

Mod Edit: All Caps Title– Please Review This Link.

[edit on 22/4/2007 by Umbrax]

[edit on 22-4-2007 by DontTreadOnMe]

[edit on 22-4-2007 by greatlakes]

reply posted on 22-4-2007 @ 08:16 PM by dgtempe

From what i understand he did say this. It is one of his quotes.

They were discussing it a few nights ago on the Coast to Coast show, and according to all of them, that is a written quote.

Scarey, isnt it?

reply posted on 22-4-2007 @ 08:26 PM by greatlakes

I found this:

www.markturner.net.../2195

I just got a response back from Walter Isaacson, the author of the hot-off-the-presses biography of Albert Einstein called Einstein: His Life and Universe. Mr. Isaacson's opinion:

"Einstein may have said something about bees, but I don't know about it if he did."

Things aren't looking good for the Einstein bee quote, y'all.

Says that he is not aware of any quotes such as this from Einstein, thsi does not mean that this is definitive however. Need some more info.

Anyone have the C2C transcipt or video link, I missed it.

reply posted on 22-4-2007 @ 08:31 PM by hikix

well einstein said a lot of things, but this is kind of an obscure qoute.. so i dont think it would become popular until it was actually revelant.... but it could be an internet hoax, some people just have wayyyyy too much time on their hands.

reply posted on 22-4-2007 @ 08:46 PM by dgtempe

Linda Moulton Howe has the quote under the beehive picture- scroll down a bit and take a look.

www.earthfiles.com...

reply posted on 22-4-2007 @ 08:50 PM by hikix

Originally posted by dgtempe
Linda Moulton Howe has the quote under the beehive picture- scroll down a bit and take a look.

www.earthfiles.com...

that quote is from 2007, we have to find a website or document that has that qoute from a few years ago, then we can verify whether it always was there or popped up just now.

reply posted on 22-4-2007 @ 09:06 PM by sardion2000

message.snopes.com...

Here is a discussion thread on snopes.

This quote caught my interest.

A blogger tried to find the source. Einstein quote. He traced it to an article in a German Journal. [Elsewhere, you can find the original quote in a translation of an articel in Der Speigel. Are GM Crops Killing Bees?. The German is

dann hat der Mensch nur noch vier Jahre zu leben; keine Bienen mehr, keine Bestäubung mehr, keine Pflanzen mehr, keine Tiere mehr, keine Menschen mehr.

The blogger concludes

The footnote [in the journal article] that looks like it might offer a source for the quote just says, "for more in the theme of this paper see the position paper of the German Beekeeper's Federation, in 'Genetic Agriculture and Professional Beekeeping', from December 2003", with a pointer of where to download it.

A pamphlet distributed [in Brussels] by the National Union of French Apiculture quoted Albert Einstein. "If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live. No more bees, no more pollination ... no more men!" [From Chris Mclaughlin's "Fearful Beekeepers Plead for Curbs on Honey Imports," The Scotsman, 25 January 1994.

Lots of info in that thread.

reply posted on 22-4-2007 @ 09:34 PM by greatlakes

Originally posted by dgtempe
Linda Moulton Howe has the quote under the beehive picture- scroll down a bit and take a look.

www.earthfiles.com...

Also if you notice the quotes are different, not usually a good sign for authenticity, however this could just be attributed to bad citation or memory (loss).

Her quote:

” If honey bees become extinct,
human society will follow in four years.”

Thread quote:

"If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe,
then man would only have four years of life left."

reply posted on 22-4-2007 @ 09:54 PM by dgtempe

Yes, there's always changes made thru the years where it comes to quotes- I have now heard scientists stating the quote in a couple of ways but with the same basic meaning. I have no reason to believe it is a hoax.

reply posted on 22-4-2007 @ 09:59 PM by greatlakes

Originally posted by dgtempe
Yes, there's always changes made thru the years where it comes to quotes- I have now heard scientists stating the quote in a couple of ways but with the same basic meaning. I have no reason to believe it is a hoax.

I am not sure either way, I'm just asking the questions. If it is authentic though, there must be some hard, verifiable source for the quote. This is starting to remind me of the Nostradamus prediction (hoax) that started up shortly after the WTC 9/11 event.

"In the City of God there will be a great thunder, Two brothers torn apart by Chaos, while the fortress endures, the great leader will succumb", The third big war will begin when the big city is burning"

- Nostradamus 1654

reply posted on 22-4-2007 @ 10:22 PM by sardion2000

Well, so far the earliest reference I've managed to find is in 1994.

A pamphlet distributed [in Brussels] by the National Union of French Apiculture quoted Albert Einstein. "If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live. No more bees, no more pollination ... no more men!" [From Chris Mclaughlin's "Fearful Beekeepers Plead for Curbs on Honey Imports," The Scotsman, 25 January 1994.

It seems the common thread here is the Apiculture industry. I am starting to believe that this was an invented quote, though Einstein wrote so much that it could've been in one of his many thousands of letters he sent out over the decades. Have all of those been released to the public yet?

reply posted on 22-4-2007 @ 10:25 PM by dgtempe

Thanks, Sardion.

I would say its on the up and up.

This is Einstein we're talking about!!!!!

reply posted on 22-4-2007 @ 10:34 PM by sardion2000

Well considering that most of his "famous" quotes are usually distorted, I would like to read what he actually wrote/said in context. The "God doesn't play dice with the universe" quote is another that was horribly mangled by a certain group of people to suit their own ends. This is smelling like something similar, though with much more at stake. We really need a Science Historian to say for sure, preferably one specializing in Einstein.

reply posted on 22-4-2007 @ 11:43 PM by ImpliedChaos

even if he did say that..was he joking? what context was it said in. Also how would he know? Did he do a scientific study to come up with the magic number of 4 years?

reply posted on 23-4-2007 @ 12:07 AM by Columbus

It's so disappointing that so many people are incapable of seeing such an obvious hoax.

There are slightly fewer than 20,000 known species of bee, though many are undescribed and the actual number is probably higher.

Not every plant, oh say none at all, actually require bees to pollenate, bees just make it more efficient.

Humans could technologically overcome a lack of bees anyway.

reply posted on 23-4-2007 @ 03:44 AM by ignorant_ape

quoting Vs paraphrasing

[RANT]

this is one of my pet peeves - the blatant inability of idiots to correctly quote a source , then ATTEMPT to pass it off as a quote - usually to add gravitas or the weight of authority .

what they are doing is NOT quoting , but paraphrasing - and it pisses me off that idiots are either too stupid to remember the quote , to lazy to research the correct wording - or worse - so fooking dishonest that their " spin " of the quote is passed off as authentic

paraphrasing - is a legitimate tool - and often adds greater weight to the section of text that YOU feel to be the most important - but it must be used honestly

it is not that hard to do - so its all the more baffling that so many people are seemingly incapable of getting it right .

lastly - the keys to correct quoting are accurate attribution and context

again - easily accomplished - but often omitted by the dishonest or lazy quoter .

[RANT/]

apologies for that - ATS , I feel better now

your normal scheduling will resume shortly

< EDIT > - rants should be typo free

[edit on 23-4-2007 by ignorant_ape]

reply posted on 23-4-2007 @ 05:44 AM by Grailkeeper

If we knew more about the quote in regards to context, it may make it more feasible.
I just can't see how this would have been an issue at any other point in time.

reply posted on 23-4-2007 @ 06:07 AM by coven

Originally posted by Columbus
It's so disappointing that so many people are incapable of seeing such an obvious hoax.

There are slightly fewer than 20,000 known species of bee, though many are undescribed and the actual number is probably higher.

Not every plant, oh say none at all, actually require bees to pollenate, bees just make it more efficient.

Humans could technologically overcome a lack of bees anyway.

actually from what I understand Humans have yet to find a way to naturally Mass pollinate plants. we can cross pollinate and pollinate individual plants, but not on a massive food growing scale. Scary stuff if this is really happening.

~coven Out

{edit for Grammatical Error}

[edit on 23-4-2007 by coven]

reply posted on 23-4-2007 @ 08:17 AM by tombangelta

personally i would like a f*cking explanation for the chemtrails.

I live in the north of England and i was in the garden having a few cold beers and for hours these planes were criss crossing the sky spraying.

Now i didn't mention anything but one of my friends who has no interest in conspiracy at all said " what the hell are them planes doing"

Has there been an official explanation as to the purpose of this spraying.

No wonder the bee's are dying.

reply posted on 23-4-2007 @ 08:21 AM by Zanzibar

I have an e-book with Einstein quotes in and this one is indeed in it.

I've been wondering if I should change the quote in my signature, I think this one would be pretty good.

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