Although Einstein and Newton managed to retain their childlike curiosity, it is beaten out of most people. Our conformist education system, designed to churn out industrial workers, is partly to blame (“No one knows what God looks like”). Our natural curiosity is also suppressed by busy, well-meaning parents who believe that everything important has already been settled. One can imagine an annoyed father in Edwin Land’s place dismissing his daughter’s question as absurd (“Patience, Jennifer! Learn to wait for the photo”). Or a busy mother missing the genius in sixteen-year-old Einstein’s
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