“That’s not knowledge… you are merely being logical.”

- Niels Bohr, to Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein and his close friend Niels Bohr “debated” for years, by letter and in person about an “uncertainty principle” in quantum theory.

Einstein never accepted this “uncertainty principle” — the moniker itself says all. It was uncertain.

The math couldn’t prove it.

Bohr was quantum theory’s disciple by all counts. He tried swaying his friend for years:

Some things are beyond human reason.

It was acceptable just to know that something was true, not necessarily knowing why and how.

Einstein never budged. There was nothing beyond reason. He was convinced that even “God does not play dice.”

Einstein didn’t give me e=mc². This man of science offered rational philosophy… oxymoron?

“The most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible.”

It’s interesting to look back at the lives of these two brilliant men and the words shared amongst them.

Now, their debate wasn’t new by any means. It goes back as long as we can remember.

It’s the classic question of epistemology – “What is knowledge?”

Long before quantum physics, Plato postulated that knowledge is a subset of that which is both true and believed.

I don’t know about you, but that looks frighteningly like a good common keyword in an AB test.

There you go folks. I’m no Einstein, but I think I’ve figured out the real secret of B2B marketing…

You want to know what’s going to get more clicks, higher conversions, more ROI?

The next time your CMO or manager asks… tell him the secret is knowledge. If he gives you that look (the one where you’ve obviously taken creative license a bit too far)… you can say, “It’s the classic question of epistemology… your perfect subject line (or keyword) lies somewhere between truth and belief… ask Aristotle.”

Or Einstein.