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Join the conversation online—visit Scientific American on Facebook and Twitter.LETTERS TO THE EDITORHOW TO CONTACT USA R T
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Please refrain from misattributing pop-
ular sayings to celebrities. “Rethinking
the ‘Anthropocene,’ ” by the Editors [Sci-
ence Agenda], quotes Albert Einstein as
asserting, “We cannot solve our problems
with the same thinking we used when we
created them.” There is no evidence that
Einstein said or wrote those words. The
nearest we come seems to be a passage in
a 1948 essay in which he argued that a
“supranational organization” should be
given sole authority over atomic weapons:
“Our situation is not comparable to any-
thing in the past. It is impossible, there-
fore, to apply methods and measures
which at an earlier age might have been
sufficient. We must revolutionize our
think ing, revolutionize our actions, and
must have the courage to revolutionize re-
lations among nations of the world. Cli-
chés of yesterday will no longer do today,
and will, no doubt, be hopelessly out of
date tomorrow.”
Steven Wenner Cohasset, Mass.
THE EDITORS REPLY: We would like to
thank Wenner for pointing out that this
quote is most likely apocryphal, as is in-
dicated by the seeming elusiveness of a
primary source and the existence of sev-
eral variations. In the future, we will not
allow for the inclusion of any quotes com-
monly attributed to famous figures unless
they can be fully substantiated.
CLARIFICATION
“A Meditation on Keyboard Shortcuts,” by
David Pogue [TechnoFiles], should not
have implied that Apple was the first to use
keyboard shortcuts by referring to them
as “Apple’s brilliant innovation.” The com-
pany was an early adopter of shortcuts.E R R ATA
“Hidden Inferno,” by Shannon Hall, should
have described winds blowing potential
volcanic ash from the Laguna del Maule
region in Chile to Argentina as westerly,
not easterly. Further, it should not have de-
scribed 1,200 degrees Celsius as 50 per-
cent hotter than 800 degrees C, because
such comparisons break down at different
scales of temperature: in kelvins, the for-
mer temperature would be 37 percent hot-
ter than the latter.