Albert Einstein’s Sci-Fi Stories (2015)
Bergson is pure woo: Nothing but completely subjective, baseless, pseudoscientific nonsense. Here is a sample of how he wrote:<p>&quot;The intellect always behaves as if it were fascinated by the contemplation of
inert matter. It is life looking outward, putting itself outside itself, adopting the ways of
unorganized nature in principle, in order to direct them in fact.&quot; - Henri Bergson<p>&quot;The pure present is an ungraspable advance of the past devouring the future. In truth, all sensation is already memory.&quot; - Henri Bergson<p>&quot;Fortunately, some are born with spiritual immune systems that sooner or later give rejection to the illusory worldview grafted upon them from birth through social conditioning. They begin sensing that something is amiss, and start looking for answers. Inner knowledge and anomalous outer experiences show them a side of reality others are oblivious to, and so begins their journey of awakening. Each step of the journey is made by following the heart instead of following the crowd and by choosing knowledge over the veils of ignorance.&quot; - Henri Bergson<p>And here are a few of the more pointed things Bertrand Russell had to say about him (from History of Western Philosophy[1], page 791):<p>&quot;One of the bad effects of an anti-intellectual philosophy, such as that of Bergson, is that it thrives
upon the errors and confusions of the intellect. Hence it is led to prefer bad thinking to good, to
declare every momentary difficulty insoluble, and to regard every foolish mistake as revealing the
bankruptcy of intellect and the triumph of intuition. There are in Bergson&#x27;s works many allusions
to mathematics and science, and to a careless reader these allusions may seem to strengthen his
philosophy greatly. As regards science, especially biology and physiology, I am not competent to
criticize his interpretations. But as regards mathematics, he has deliberately preferred traditional errors in interpretation to the more modern views which have prevailed among mathematicians for the last eighty years.&quot; -Bertrand  Russell<p>&quot;In that case, he may be tempted
to ask whether there are any reasons for accepting such a restless view of the world. And if he
asks this question, he will find, if I am not mistaken, that there is no reason whatever for accepting
this view, either in the universe or in the writings of M. Bergson. &quot; -Bertrand  Russell<p>Why would anyone think he was qualified to discuss physics? Bergson wrote a book called &quot;Matter and Memory&quot;[2] and his thesis, Time and Free Will[3], where he presented a highly subjective and basically meaningless account of &quot;time.&quot; Like others have said, it&#x27;s sad that his pseudo-intellectual rock throwing was taken seriously.  Einstein himself credits Hume and Mach[4] with helping him get past the notion of absolute simultaneity.<p>[1]: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ntslibrary.com&#x2F;PDF" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.ntslibrary.com&#x2F;PDF</a> Books&#x2F;History of Western Philosophy.pdf<p>[2]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Matter_and_Memory" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Matter_and_Memory</a><p>[3]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Time_and_Free_Will" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&#x2F;wiki&#x2F;Time_and_Free_Will</a><p>[4]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.pitt.edu&#x2F;~jdnorton&#x2F;papers&#x2F;HumeMach.pdf" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.pitt.edu&#x2F;~jdnorton&#x2F;papers&#x2F;HumeMach.pdf</a>