It's good that he was a super genius at physics because I don't think he could have made a living as a drummer and singer.
The fact that he was not a "conventional" thinker was part of his success. He really didn't give a damn about what "respectable" people thought, whether it was about strip clubs or the space shuttle. He knew that he was smarter than most people, smarter in fact than almost everyone except for a handful of peers. Why should a man of his brilliance trust answers from what must have appeared to him to be the semi-retarded? So he was able to cut thru official propaganda and received wisdom and develop his own answers to questions, and given his brilliance they were usually the right answers.
Less talented mavericks, on the other hand, have a tougher time, and often have the bittersweet experience of finding out that they, too, sometimes get the answers right, way ahead of their time, and never get the funding, never get the acknowledgement, and simply have to waste their lives pretending to be like everyone else, simply to put bread on the table.
K observed "... super genius at physics ..." Yes! My guess is that Einstein and Feynman were the two greatest theoretical physicists of the 20th century. For another interesting Feynman video, google "Richard Feynman on doubt, uncertainty and religion" ... was Feynman truly great in originality and curiosity? According to Samuel Johnson: (1) No man was ever great by imitation. (2) Curiosity is one of the most permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect. To understanding my thinking on the greatness of Fredkin and Wolfram, google "feynman fredkin wolfram" Also, J, Feynman did not drink alcoholic beverages. He would visit a strip club and slowly sip a 7-Up, while making mathematical calculations
J, I was not there to witness any of Feynman's conduct, but I do believe almost everything he told about himself. Feynman had a reputation for honesty, straightforwardness, and tactlessness. His second wife is on record complaining about his constant work with mathematical equations. If Feynman was in a strip club or anywhere else for more than an hour, he might have felt an irresistible urge to do theoretical physics. Admittedly, we might ask ourselves, "Is strip club attendance combined with nonalcoholic beverage and mathematical equations a one-in-ten-million occurrence?"
K enough about the O-ring already. I imagine that if you were the investigator, you would have found the the solution too. Air disaster investigators do frequently come up with the strangest and saddest of explanations. A guidance computer set on dead reckoning in the case of the Korean airliner shot down over Sakhalin. A disabled pitot tube, (a careless technician had left it covered after maintenance) brought disaster to a Peruvian 757, as the pilots were unable to figure out the height of flight. I hope I do not come across as a Feynman stalker, though I had written some nonsense about him earlier. Dr Feynman was a great scientist who had the merit of being able to explain his work without condescension. As he put it, what one fool knows another can understand.
I think the reason the space shuttle disaster seems so obvious to us now is BECAUSE of Feynman. In retrospect after Feynman's explanation it seems perfectly obvious. But it was NOT obvious at the time, certainly not obvious to all the literal "rocket scientists" whose job it was to keep the shuttle from blowing up, or else the shuttle would NOT have blown up in the first place. In Feynman's terms, first you have to have the "fool" who knows (who in reality is only a "fool" in excessively modest terms of self-description) before us other real fools can understand. If the right answer could have been found by someone else, we'll never know for sure, but I'll never forget Fenyman's glass of water demonstration - not everyone has the gift of being able to explain a complicated technical matter in terms every layman can understand and being able to think of such a simple but vivid experiment.
"I think the reason the space shuttle disaster seems so obvious to us now is BECAUSE of Feynman."
If memory serves (it's been many years since I read the famous biography of Feynman), it was an Air Force officer or NASA official who pointed Feyman in the direction of the O-ring explanation. It made more sense, for political purposes, to have the explanation come from an outsider.
Dave, The knowledge was there, but without Feynman, who recognized it and formulated in an authoritative way, it would have taken forever to be discovered.
It has ben my experience that the people most close to the problem generally have a very good idea of what is going on, but they are uncapable of formulating it in a way that it makes sense to others.
" they are uncapable of formulating it in a way that it makes sense to others."
Part of this is often intentional to avoid stripping away the mysteries of the guild - if a doctor tell you that you have "dermatitis" then he is a medical professional and you are not. If he says that you have a "skin irritation" (which means the same thing) then you look at him like he is an idiot because you already knew that.
In academia and particularly the "social sciences", a large part of this is because once you strip away the jargon and explain their theories in understandable terms they are either beyond all common sense or so blindingly obvious as to be trite. But such people often live in such insular worlds where everything is couched in the jargon of their fields that they are incapable of clear thought even if they tried.
13 comments:
It's good that he was a super genius at physics because I don't think he could have made a living as a drummer and singer.
The fact that he was not a "conventional" thinker was part of his success. He really didn't give a damn about what "respectable" people thought, whether it was about strip clubs or the space shuttle. He knew that he was smarter than most people, smarter in fact than almost everyone except for a handful of peers. Why should a man of his brilliance trust answers from what must have appeared to him to be the semi-retarded? So he was able to cut thru official propaganda and received wisdom and develop his own answers to questions, and given his brilliance they were usually the right answers.
K
No question a genius.
Less talented mavericks, on the other hand, have a tougher time, and often have the bittersweet experience of finding out that they, too, sometimes get the answers right, way ahead of their time, and never get the funding, never get the acknowledgement, and simply have to waste their lives pretending to be like everyone else, simply to put bread on the table.
Anon.
What is he singing? I cannot understand.
I think he's singing, "I want my orange juice, I've got to have my orange juice".
Orange juice was thought to cure hangovers. May be that's why he wants his orange juice so badly.
K observed "... super genius at physics ..." Yes! My guess is that Einstein and Feynman were the two greatest theoretical physicists of the 20th century. For another interesting Feynman video, google "Richard Feynman on doubt, uncertainty and religion" ... was Feynman truly great in originality and curiosity? According to Samuel Johnson:
(1) No man was ever great by imitation.
(2) Curiosity is one of the most permanent and certain characteristics of a vigorous intellect.
To understanding my thinking on the greatness of Fredkin and Wolfram, google "feynman fredkin wolfram"
Also, J, Feynman did not drink alcoholic beverages. He would visit a strip club and slowly sip a 7-Up, while making mathematical calculations
Doggy, Were you there in the strip club and seen him making maths? I didnt and dont believe everything he told about himself.
J, I was not there to witness any of Feynman's conduct, but I do believe almost everything he told about himself. Feynman had a reputation for honesty, straightforwardness, and tactlessness. His second wife is on record complaining about his constant work with mathematical equations. If Feynman was in a strip club or anywhere else for more than an hour, he might have felt an irresistible urge to do theoretical physics. Admittedly, we might ask ourselves, "Is strip club attendance combined with nonalcoholic beverage and mathematical equations a one-in-ten-million occurrence?"
K enough about the O-ring already. I imagine that if you were the investigator, you would have found the the solution too. Air disaster investigators do frequently come up with the strangest and saddest of explanations. A guidance computer set on dead reckoning in the case of the Korean airliner shot down over Sakhalin. A disabled pitot tube, (a careless technician had left it covered after maintenance) brought disaster to a Peruvian 757, as the pilots were unable to figure out the height of flight. I hope I do not come across as a Feynman stalker, though I had written some nonsense about him earlier. Dr Feynman was a great scientist who had the merit of being able to explain his work without condescension. As he put it, what one fool knows another can understand.
Ivan,
I think the reason the space shuttle disaster seems so obvious to us now is BECAUSE of Feynman. In retrospect after Feynman's explanation it seems perfectly obvious. But it was NOT obvious at the time, certainly not obvious to all the literal "rocket scientists" whose job it was to keep the shuttle from blowing up, or else the shuttle would NOT have blown up in the first place. In Feynman's terms, first you have to have the "fool" who knows (who in reality is only a "fool" in excessively modest terms of self-description) before us other real fools can understand. If the right answer could have been found by someone else, we'll never know for sure, but I'll never forget Fenyman's glass of water demonstration - not everyone has the gift of being able to explain a complicated technical matter in terms every layman can understand and being able to think of such a simple but vivid experiment.
K
"I think the reason the space shuttle disaster seems so obvious to us now is BECAUSE of Feynman."
If memory serves (it's been many years since I read the famous biography of Feynman), it was an Air Force officer or NASA official who pointed Feyman in the direction of the O-ring explanation. It made more sense, for political purposes, to have the explanation come from an outsider.
Dave, The knowledge was there, but without Feynman, who recognized it and formulated in an authoritative way, it would have taken forever to be discovered.
It has ben my experience that the people most close to the problem generally have a very good idea of what is going on, but they are uncapable of formulating it in a way that it makes sense to others.
" they are uncapable of formulating it in a way that it makes sense to others."
Part of this is often intentional to avoid stripping away the mysteries of the guild - if a doctor tell you that you have "dermatitis" then he is a medical professional and you are not. If he says that you have a "skin irritation" (which means the same thing) then you look at him like he is an idiot because you already knew that.
In academia and particularly the "social sciences", a large part of this is because once you strip away the jargon and explain their theories in understandable terms they are either beyond all common sense or so blindingly obvious as to be trite. But such people often live in such insular worlds where everything is couched in the jargon of their fields that they are incapable of clear thought even if they tried.
K
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