An anonymous reader wrote to mention an MSNBC article on how Darwin and Einstein managed their inboxes. From the article: "A new study finds that the correspondence of Albert Einstein, as well as that of Charles Darwin, followed patterns similar to modern e-mail communication. Einstein sent more than 14,500 letters. But he received more than 16,200, and responded to only a quarter of them. Darwin mailed more than 7,500 letters. He responded to 32 percent of the roughly 6,530 letters he received."Ads_xl=0;Ads_yl=0;Ads_xp='';Ads_yp='';Ads_xp1='';Ads_yp1='';Ads_par='';Ads_cnturl='';Ads_prf='page=article';Ads_channels='RON_P6_IMU';Ads_wrd='communications,science';Ads_kid=0;Ads_bid=0;Ads_sec=0; How Darwin Managed His Inbox Log in/Create an Account | Top | 203 comments | Search Discussion Display Options Threshold: -1: 203 comments 0: 199 comments 1: 160 comments 2: 106 comments 3: 41 comments 4: 26 comments 5: 18 comments Flat Nested No Comments Threaded Oldest First Newest First Highest Scores First Oldest First (Ignore Threads) Newest First (Ignore Threads) The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way. Value for money (Score:2, Funny) by fm2503 (876331) on Thursday October 27, @10:16AM (#13888682) But how many Rolexs did each of them buy via special offer correspondance, and did anything that turned up in the post make their wife any happier? [ Reply to This Just think (Score:1, Funny) by Saiyine (689367) on Thursday October 27, @10:16AM (#13888683) (http://www.saiyine.com/) Just think how the world would be should Einstein had a gmail account! [ Reply to ThisRe:Just think by Anonymous Coward (Score:1) Thursday October 27, @11:32AMRe:Just think by shawb (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @03:33PM1 reply beneath your current threshold. only? (Score:2, Insightful) by gtrubetskoy (734033) * on Thursday October 27, @10:16AM (#13888686) (http://www.openhosting.com/) Einstein sent more than 14,500 letters.That's in his lifetime. Since 1998, I sent 27,171 emails (granted, an e-mail is much easier to sent than a snail mail letter). It's hard for me to count how many I received (counting spam it's probably in the millions). [ Reply to This Re:only? (Score:5, Insightful) by Narcissus (310552) on Thursday October 27, @10:45AM (#13888877) (http://slashdot.org/) How many of those, though, were really just multiple parts of a 'conversation'?I know I can rack up dozens of emails when I start using it like an IM service. However I doubt Einstein would write something like "So, what time do you want me to come around on Friday?" and then wait for a reply before continuing with "and do you want me to bring anything?" [ Reply to This | Parent Re:only? (Score:4, Interesting) by jsveiga (465473) on Thursday October 27, @12:02PM (#13889469) On "Selected Letters on Evolution and Origin of Species", it is interesting that some of the letters really have a conversation "sequence", considering the long "latency" time between each packet. This was specially true during Darwin's trip, but also when he was at home.Something like we will experience when exchanging emails with colonies on other planets or solar systems: You write, and your grandson gets the answer.When a quick response was expected, they'd send a messenger and ask that recipient answered by return mail (and the messenger would wait for the answer to be written).Also, something as easy as sending an article you wrote for a friend to review (attach/send today) would require that someone hand-copied your writings or that you send the only original and wait for it to come back with the review. You didn't keep a copy on your "sent items".In the book, Darwin's son says his father was troubled by the chore of processing mails, and spent a lot of time just doing that.Those were the times. [ Reply to This | ParentRe:only? by MCraigW (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @12:56PMRe:only? by shawb (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @03:54PMRe:only? by johnnyb (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @04:21PMRe:only? by trentblase (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @02:28PMRe:only? by jsveiga (Score:1) Thursday October 27, @02:45PMRe:only? by gilgongo (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @05:20PM1 reply beneath your current threshold. Re:only? (Score:5, Funny) by xs650 (741277) on Thursday October 27, @11:01AM (#13888991) It's all relative. [ Reply to This | ParentRe:only? by InvisibleSoul (Score:1) Thursday October 27, @05:34PMRe:only? by InvisibleSoul (Score:1) Thursday October 27, @05:40PMRe:only? by diegocgteleline.es (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @11:28AMWhen I worked in an ISP by hummassa (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @02:46PMRe:only? by genus babbage (Score:1) Thursday October 27, @03:41PM1 reply beneath your current threshold. Spam? (Score:5, Funny) by strazzere (882662) on Thursday October 27, @10:16AM (#13888687) Yea... But come on - how many of them asked him to sign up for a credit card... [ Reply to This Re:Spam? (Score:5, Funny) by MyIS (834233) on Thursday October 27, @10:29AM (#13888787) Hello, good sir!For an agre3able sum of 6 farth1ngs, You could be a happy recipient of Dr. Tomson's Fantastic Marriage Rev1ver 0il. The said amazing Substance is to be applied on Members involved; the forthcoming result may be hard to conceal even with a top hat, and your better half will quite soon be cured of that blasted Headache that has, undoubtedly, been plaguing the good woman every night for the past years.Caution: mis-use shall certainly ruin a dinner party. [ Reply to This | ParentRe:Spam? by conJunk (Score:1) Thursday October 27, @10:45AM Re:Spam? (Score:4, Informative) by Pxtl (151020) on Thursday October 27, @11:20AM (#13889130) (http://www.livejournal.com/~pxtl) Interesting gives karma, funny doesnt, hence people mod interesting instead of funny to approve of funny stuff. And that certainly deserves the honour - it kicked loads of ass. [ Reply to This | ParentRe:Spam? by DJCater (Score:3) Thursday October 27, @11:36AMRe:Spam? by Anonymous Coward (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @12:02PMRe:Spam? by FidelCatsro (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @11:36AM Darwin's Inbox? (Score:5, Funny) by falzer (224563) on Thursday October 27, @10:17AM (#13888697) He used Evolution, of course. [ Reply to This Re:Darwin's Inbox? (Score:5, Funny) by Eric Giguere (42863) on Thursday October 27, @10:36AM (#13888831) (http://www.makeeasymoneywithgoogle.com/) But how would he explain the existence of Thunderbird [mozilla.org]?EricRead one of the best AdSense blogs [memwg.com] around (runs on blojsom [blojsom.com]) [ Reply to This | ParentRe:Darwin's Inbox? by JerryP (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @12:09PMFSM by uberjoe (Score:1) Thursday October 27, @12:30PMRe:Darwin's Inbox? by Olb (Score:1) Thursday October 27, @12:59PMRe:Darwin's Inbox? by Eric Giguere (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @04:33PMRe:Darwin's Inbox? by 1336 (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @04:28PM1 reply beneath your current threshold.Re:Darwin's Inbox? by Anonymous Coward (Score:1) Thursday October 27, @11:05AMRe:Darwin's Inbox? by Enahs (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @11:04PM1 reply beneath your current threshold. Except they were doing real work... (Score:5, Funny) by LexNaturalis (895838) on Thursday October 27, @10:17AM (#13888698) It's much easier to read/respond to e-mail when you're slacking off at work and reading /. (not that I'd ever do that, boss!) but when you're on a boat studying birds on a far away island or working on important and complex physics problems it's a little more difficult to sit down and read through a letter and actually pen a response. The more interesting thing to note is that they actually did write 1,000s of letters that were probably well-written and well-formatted, unlike most modern e-mails (Or /. comments)However, if their letters had really been like modern inboxes, they'd be getting letters like "Is your chalk too soft? Take c1al1s to harden it up!!" or "Do you want to refinance your home, the Beagle?" or "Hot Physics action here!" [ Reply to This Re:Except they were doing real work... (Score:5, Insightful) by JaredOfEuropa (526365) on Thursday October 27, @10:23AM (#13888742) (Last Journal: Saturday January 31, @06:25PM) when you're on a boat studying birds on a far away island or working on important and complex physics problems it's a little more difficult to sit down and read through a letter and actually pen a response.On the contrary, Darwin must have had ages to write all those letters during his long voyage... bird watching was only a small portion of the time spent, for the rest it was a long and boring sea voyage. [ Reply to This | Parent Re:Except they were doing real work... (Score:5, Funny) by jiushao (898575) on Thursday October 27, @10:32AM (#13888805) Not to mention the time they spent circling around trying to find a mailbox on the Galapagos. [ Reply to This | ParentIf women were permitted in ships ... by hummassa (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @02:20PM1 reply beneath your current threshold.Re:Except they were doing real work... by nathanh (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @10:27AMRe:Except they were doing real work... by ucblockhead (Score:3) Thursday October 27, @12:46PMRe:Except they were doing real work... by barkingcorndog (Score:1) Thursday October 27, @03:05PM Yay! (Score:5, Funny) by DonJoe (888954) on Thursday October 27, @10:17AM (#13888699) If you're like Einstein, you respond to some e-mails immediately and let others wait. And, of course, some you never answer.Yay! I'm like, Einstein! [ Reply to This2 replies beneath your current threshold. What a surprise (Score:5, Insightful) by Da Fokka (94074) on Thursday October 27, @10:18AM (#13888702) (http://www.fokke.net/) "Their timely responses to most letters show that they were both aware of the importance of this intellectual intercourse," Of course they were, they are respectively the most important Physicist and Biologist ever. If they had the intelligence to conceive their theories, it should be rather obvious that sorting their mail was not outside the realm of their wit. [ Reply to ThisRe:What a surprise by hackstraw (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @10:40AMRe:What a surprise by Dun Malg (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @11:06AMRe:What a surprise by networkBoy (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @01:09PM besides that (Score:4, Funny) by Prince Vegeta SSJ4 (718736) on Thursday October 27, @10:41AM (#13888856) "Their timely responses to most letters show that they were both aware of the importance of this intellectual intercourse,"Of course they were, they are respectively the most important Physicist and Biologist ever. If they had the intelligence to conceive their theories, it should be rather obvious that sorting their mail was not outside the realm of their wit.Beisdes that, since they were nerds, what other type of intercourse could they get? [ Reply to This | ParentRe:besides that by Karma_fucker_sucker (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @10:48AMRe:besides that by MicktheMech (Score:1) Thursday October 27, @11:33AMWhy else ... by hummassa (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @02:22PMRe:besides that by GrievousMistake (Score:1) Thursday October 27, @02:23PMRe:besides that by DJCater (Score:3) Thursday October 27, @11:42AM1 reply beneath your current threshold.Re:besides that by mikrorechner (Score:3) Thursday October 27, @11:45AMRe:besides that by Tim Browse (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @02:37PMRe:besides that by ccp (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @04:03PMRe:besides that by Da Fokka (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @10:41PM1 reply beneath your current threshold.Re:What a surprise by andreMA (Score:1) Thursday October 27, @11:25AMRe:What a surprise by Kelson (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @06:33PMRe:What a surprise by ucblockhead (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @12:48PMYou are miscategorizing Darwin by Medievalist (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @02:22PMRe:You are miscategorizing Darwin by nobody69 (Score:3) Thursday October 27, @03:42PM only the strongest email will survive (Score:2, Interesting) by pintomp3 (882811) on Thursday October 27, @10:18AM (#13888705) the heading threw me off. i was thinking some kind of new spam filtering technology in which good emails with non-spammy qualities get through to the inbox. i imagined a darwinian inbox that shrinks on it's own as crapy messages are deleted in favor of good ones. guess i gotta stop smoking early in the morning. [ Reply to This1 reply beneath your current threshold. How does this compare? (Score:5, Insightful) by Dekortage (697532) on Thursday October 27, @10:19AM (#13888713) This is just celebrity research. So Darwin and Einstein handled paper mail like we handle electronic mail. Guess what? I handle paper mail that way too. I bet most people do, and pronbably always have. The article doesn't talk about that, however. [ Reply to ThisRe:How does this compare? by Anonymous Coward (Score:3) Thursday October 27, @10:29AMRe:How does this compare? by Dekortage (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @11:03AMRe:How does this compare? by char1iecha1k (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @10:42AMRe:How does this compare? by mcvos (Score:1) Thursday October 27, @01:08PM Dear Albert, (Score:5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 27, @10:20AM (#13888718) As a lawyer working for Bohr & Associates, we recently discovered the sum of 8*10^16 Joules held inside 1g of Uranium 237. If with your help, we can free this energy, through a fission reaction, you will receive 0.1% of it in the form of heat, which can be used to drive turbines.Wishing you long life,Asumemwe Obugo,LawyerNigeria [ Reply to ThisLOL I love nerd jokes! :) - NT by HerculesMO (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @10:28AMRe:LOL I love nerd jokes! :) - NT by gowen (Score:3) Thursday October 27, @10:40AMRe:LOL I love nerd jokes! :) - NT by HerculesMO (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @10:54AMRe:LOL I love nerd jokes! :) - NT by adavies42 (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @10:55AMRe:LOL I love nerd jokes! :) - NT by BlueCodeWarrior (Score:1) Thursday October 27, @12:04PMRe:LOL I love nerd jokes! :) - NT by ZombieWomble (Score:1) Thursday October 27, @12:10PMRe:LOL I love nerd jokes! :) - NT by buck_wild (Score:3) Thursday October 27, @07:59PM2 replies beneath your current threshold.1 reply beneath your current threshold.Re:LOL I love nerd jokes! :) - NT by quadra23 (Score:1) Thursday October 27, @12:00PMRe:LOL I love nerd jokes! :) - NT by gowen (Score:1) Thursday October 27, @12:22PM They used the ancient mail filtering technique (Score:5, Funny) by tezza (539307) on Thursday October 27, @10:20AM (#13888719) Anything that started with:To Albert Einstein,Gr0w ur p3n1s with ...Was not replied to. [ Reply to This Slow News Day (Score:4, Funny) by kevin_conaway (585204) on Thursday October 27, @10:21AM (#13888729) (http://pyscrabble.sf.net/ | Last Journal: Thursday April 28, @02:48PM) Umm, so they both sent and received mail. Both only replied to some of the mail they got? ME TOO! I wonder what else we have in common. Perhaps they enjoyed watching The Simpsons in their underwear as well. Thats what it takes to get a story on MSNBC these days? [ Reply to ThisRe:Slow News Day (should this been been on FARK?) by Deffexor (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @10:40AMRe:Slow News Day by LeonGeeste (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @11:06AMRe:Slow News Day by Mattwolf7 (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @04:10PMRe:Slow News Day by SpaghettiPattern (Score:1) Thursday October 27, @11:26AMRe:Slow News Day by MasterOfUniverse (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @11:39AMRe:Slow News Day by jangobongo (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @01:57PM So wait... (Score:1, Redundant) by HerculesMO (693085) on Thursday October 27, @10:22AM (#13888738) I reply to nearly 100% of legit messages.Did Darwin and Einstein get mail telling them they could improve their penis size too, that they didn't respond to? [ Reply to This1 reply beneath your current threshold. Email filters... (Score:2) by Vexler (127353) on Thursday October 27, @10:23AM (#13888747) (Last Journal: Thursday December 11, @12:03PM) At least back then Nigeria 419 did not exist, and spam was a common household dinner... As for viagra and cialis, well, *real* men are geeks and they don't use "enhancements". [ Reply to ThisRe:Email filters... by pintomp3 (Score:1) Thursday October 27, @10:29AMRe:Email filters... by The Grassy Knoll (Score:1) Thursday October 27, @11:39AM I disagree (Score:5, Funny) by xdroop (4039) on Thursday October 27, @10:24AM (#13888754) (http://xdroop.com/ | Last Journal: Tuesday December 17, @01:42PM) The upshot: Einstein and Darwin exhibited a "fundamental pattern of human dynamics" that plays out every morning when you check your inbox. Nahh, it must have been Intelligent Design. [ Reply to ThisRe:I disagree by lpangelrob (Score:1) Thursday October 27, @10:33AMRe:I disagree by Nept (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @11:20AMYou're right... by Spy der Mann (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @11:32AMIntelligent Design? by Black Parrot (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @11:49AMRe:Intelligent Design? by xdroop (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @07:20PM einstein hoax (Score:2) by Jamu (852752) on Thursday October 27, @10:25AM (#13888760) Most of Einstein's mail was probably from a crackpot claiming Relativity was a hoax and that in all the months he'd been writing to Einstein, Einstein hadn't provided a reply he liked. [ Reply to This Re:einstein hoax (Score:4, Funny) by Smallest (26153) on Thursday October 27, @11:00AM (#13888984) http://home.pacific.net.au/~t_rout/Gravity%20waves .htm [pacific.net.au]All peoples should be exceedingly surprised to learn that Einsteins' concept of TIME, which he assigned as the 4th Dimension, and the speed of light are one and the same. It means by altering either one then the other one must remain unchanged; be declared a constant. Einstein could have made TIME the constant and the speed of light alterable. I will demonstrate this by using a high speeding spacecraft in which the speed of light within the spacecraft has halved to 150,000 k.p.sec. then the TIME, it is relative to, has to be made Stationary Time the constant and the speed of light alterable. We could use our, not so quite, stationary TIME on Earth. Now I will do it the other way by making TIME in the spacecraft as the variable and halving it, but the speed of light MUST become the constant and be related as 300,000 k.p.sec., which is the common everyday way it is stated, explained, understood and taught. What I have now done is to prove and explain more easily that I had and have proven the Speed of light is ALTERABLE. It is under my non-exclusive copyright.A decade or more ago I stated Black Holes should be stationary. I also stated the speed of light within Black Holes has slowed and the previous paragraphs' data proves I had and have proven my statement was true and correct. With Black Holes being stationary then the speed of light within them is relative to Stationary Time making the speed of light slower due to the Black Holes massive mass and the resulting massive gravity. The speeding spacecrafts' mass increases with its' speed increasing. So an increased mass causes an increase in gravity and a slower TIME or rather a slower speed of light.A major problem has been that the World Science Establishments, Educational and Political Systems and the colluding Media Establishments wrongly believing that the speed of light is unalterable. All this would be of great surprise to the World Science Establishments and an enormous surprise for the public to know of their surprise due to Science, Scientists and Physicists Internationally not understanding Relativity. They all have not understood Einsteins' Relativity since it's release in 1905. Maybe Spacetime's 4th Dimension being defective and deficient can take some of the blame, but only part of the blame for it is their weak minds and poor reasoning powers and arrogance that is at fault. I again have demonstrated and proven my Intellectual and Scientific superiority and again I am being denied credit, recognition, and public awareness so depriving me of financial remuneration which hinders and stops me from getting my major Fusion and Space projects underway in Australia with International involvement. The Media deceives and confuses the Public of the credibility of my achievements with its' silence. [ Reply to This | ParentRe:einstein hoax by $RANDOMLUSER (Score:3) Thursday October 27, @11:07AMRe:einstein hoax by somersault (Score:1) Thursday October 27, @11:20AMRe:einstein hoax by IngramJames (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @11:54AMRe:einstein hoax by Boronx (Score:3) Thursday October 27, @12:42PMRe:einstein hoax by orgelspieler (Score:2) Thursday October 27, @01:36PM1 reply beneath your current threshold. How Darwin managed his imbox (Score:1) by tbcpp (797625) on Thursday October 27, @10:29AM (#13888793) You mean to tell me he didn't use iMail or somthing like that?Really, it's sad when I see Darwin and think Mac. [ Reply to This Replies Not Necessary (Score:4, Insightful) by Mean Variance (913229)