Einstein's Dilemma

Einstein's Dilemma formally refers a problem faced by Albert Einstein just after he conceived the special theory of relativity, but the phrase has recently come to be used colloquially for any dilemma where all the foreseeable and unforeseeable outcomes are unfavorable.

The proper form of the dilemma is as follows: Right after Einstein had created special relativity he considered the implications of presenting such a theory to the world. Knowing, as he did, of the financial devastation reeked by the Yardstick Catastrophe, he feared that presenting a theory where distance had no absolute meaning would cause economic collapse. He reasoned this outcome based upon the second law of pessimechanics, which demands that a closed system increase its maltropy. Based upon his own calculations he concluded that, should he present the theory, the following chain of events would transpire:

Since special relativity predicts that distance has no absolute meaning, people will think that measuring distance is useless. This will lead them to conclude that rulers have no value, which will in turn lead to angered and violent arguments about lengths, which will escalate until all lengths are declared invalid—causing construction of buildings and homes to come to an abrupt halt. This will then result in a cessation of production, which will end with a collapsed economy.

Einstein was thus faced with quite a quandary: tell the world about a truly beautiful and progressive theory, but cause economic ruin in the process; or, keep the theory to himself, but hinder scientific advancement.

In the end, Einstein decided that it was best to go ahead and publish the theory, because any action would the increase maltropy—including the action of inaction.

Of course the economic collapse that Einstein feared did not occur; however, as a result of his physical insight the atomic bomb was produced, thus increasing the overall maltropy. In retrospect, Einstein could have predicted this outcome: upon examination of his pessimechanical calculations, one finds an addition error that caused the chain of events prediction to be highly skewed from its actual value.