[bigboy12]

Everyone seems to think they would have figured out Einstein’s theory but they didn’t until Einstein did.

[dang]

"Don't be snarky."

"Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith."

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

[eru]

Huh? Where did I say I would have figured it out?

Albert Einstein was smart, and he definitely was smarter than me. But his achievements weren't beyond all the other smart people. Especially individually and with more time.

See also how Newton and Leibniz came up with calculus at the same time. Or how public key cryptography was invented independently multiple times.

[arcanemachiner]

I don't think you're the "they" here. I think "they" means "one of Einstein's contemporaries".