Re: [Tears] Earth Abides by George R. Stewart

James wrote:

Earth Abides by George R. Stewart
>
A lucky survivor of the pandemic that nearly annihilated humanity
resolves to rebuild civilization, with the help of fellow survivors
and his own lack of applicable skills.
>
https://jamesdavisnicoll.com/review/purple-mountain-majesties

Excerpted from your review:

    2: Until I looked up Berkeley to check the spelling, which
    I invariably get wrong, I did not know it was named for
    /that/ Bishop Berkeley.

Catholic Berkeley's Notebook contains this intriguing passage:

    N.B. my Abstract & general Doctrines ought not to be condemn'd
    by [Francis Bacon's] Royall Society [of London].

In regards to Berkeley's Relativity, the Wikipedia article you cite is a
hot mess. Something about Berkeley's attitude seems to anger both
Bacon's Royal Society of London and Wikipedia. Here's Berkeley's
pertinent thoughts on Relativity:

    Absolute Space and Motion

    Absolute motion and absolute space are not understood
    realistically or instrumentally by Berkeley. He recommends
    that natural philosophers dismiss the concepts. Relative
    space and motion will more than adequately serve the
    purposes of physics. The debate about absolute motion and
    space has a long and complex history. Berkeley’s critique
    is often regarded as an anticipation of that of Ernest Mach.

    <https://iep.utm.edu/george-berkeley-philosophy-of-science/>

Berkeley's Relativity anticipated Einstein's Relativity, in other words.
This topic was last broached by me in rec.arts.sf.written about a decade
ago. And at least one regular back then acted insulted and promised to
have the last word on Wikipedia. ROTFLMAO.

Danke,

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