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Looking at that video again, I don't understand why you'd think he was a jerk there (Feynman could be called a jerk for other things he did in his life, but IMO

Looking at that video again, I don't understand why you'd think he was a jerk there (Feynman could be called a jerk for other things he did in his life, but IMO never for the way he tried to explain physics to non physicists). His answer was as clear and concise as he could make it, and he even faults himself for the lack of deeper explanation: Magnetism is (in a slightly simplified manner) one of the fundamental forces, so he does not understand it as something that can be explained further, using any analogy understood by laymen. He also explains why analogies don't hold up here and how magnetism is more fundamental than collisions between macroscopical objects (the hand on the table). He also says that it's an 'excellent' question (from the point of view of a curious mind), after which he explains the flaw inherent to the question. Asking the right questions is an important concept in science, and I also often have difficulties with people who find it rude when a question itself is analyzed, sometimes turned back, before actually being answered. People who always want simple answers to seemingly simple questions IMO tend to have a fundamantal misunderstanding of reality as we know it from a scientific viewpoint.

chm 11y ago
Then why didn't Feynman simply say so? He patronized the interviewer and in my opinion it wasn't productive. An honest answer, and admittance that he didn't know of any better way to explain/justify it, would have been excellent. Instead we get sermoned. And concerning your last paragraph, I assume you're talking about the interviewer and not me. I'm positive he wasn't looking for a "simple answer". He was just trying to get Feynman talking about magnetism.
- simoncion 11y ago
  > Then why didn't Feynman simply say so? When introducing complex or rather unfamiliar concepts -particularly ones that run contrary to their understanding of things-, people tend to remember stories and analogies better than simple, short, declarative sentences. Many non-technical people either never knew or had forgotten that the real answer to even the most straightforward "why" question can be mind-crushingly complex.
  - Gibbon1 11y ago
    I just remember taking thermodynamics for the first time. It was very hard to wrap me small brain around it. I also remember reading Feynman's short intro to quantum mechanics to dummies, and again it was hard to wrap my brain around it. Brass tax some subjects the human brain doesn't grasp very easily based on common education, experience and perception. Understanding some subjects requires a lot of odd rewiring of the old monkey brain. So yeah, Feynman's explanation seems legit, there is no lay explanation for magnets. He'd have to teach you quantum mechanics, at least enough to explain what's happening when you hold two magnets together. And it's not like he's unwilling, since teaching that it part of the way he made a living, it's just he can't do that in less than six months. And then, you wouldn't be a lay person.
- m_mueller 11y ago
  > And concerning your last paragraph, I assume you're talking about the interviewer and not me. No, I was talking about you. The interviewer seemed to slightly misunderstand Feynman's hesitation in the beginning, but then he was willing to listen and apparently saw the value in Feynman's response (otherwise this wouldn't have aired the way it did). You on the other hand are the one taking offense.
  - chm 11y ago
    Then you are quite mistaken in your assumptions about me and should consider revising the basis on which you made them.
    - simoncion 11y ago
      You have hidden information that was only revealed much later in this conversation. One cannot be expected to divine this information. This thread would have turned out better if you had stated something to the effect of "I have watched this BBC programme many, many times and I have always felt that Feynman's minute of Socratic lead-up to his answer to the interviewer's question about magnetism is inappropriate and rude." in your original post. I doubt that many folks will read the comment you made to me in which you reveal that your opinions have been informed by multiple viewings of the source material in its entirety.

chm 11y ago

Then why didn't Feynman simply say so? He patronized the interviewer and in my opinion it wasn't productive. An honest answer, and admittance that he didn't know of any better way to explain/justify it, would have been excellent. Instead we get sermoned. And concerning your last paragraph, I assume you're talking about the interviewer and not me. I'm positive he wasn't looking for a "simple answer". He was just trying to get Feynman talking about magnetism.

simoncion 11y ago
> Then why didn't Feynman simply say so? When introducing complex or rather unfamiliar concepts -particularly ones that run contrary to their understanding of things-, people tend to remember stories and analogies better than simple, short, declarative sentences. Many non-technical people either never knew or had forgotten that the real answer to even the most straightforward "why" question can be mind-crushingly complex.
- Gibbon1 11y ago
  I just remember taking thermodynamics for the first time. It was very hard to wrap me small brain around it. I also remember reading Feynman's short intro to quantum mechanics to dummies, and again it was hard to wrap my brain around it. Brass tax some subjects the human brain doesn't grasp very easily based on common education, experience and perception. Understanding some subjects requires a lot of odd rewiring of the old monkey brain. So yeah, Feynman's explanation seems legit, there is no lay explanation for magnets. He'd have to teach you quantum mechanics, at least enough to explain what's happening when you hold two magnets together. And it's not like he's unwilling, since teaching that it part of the way he made a living, it's just he can't do that in less than six months. And then, you wouldn't be a lay person.
m_mueller 11y ago
> And concerning your last paragraph, I assume you're talking about the interviewer and not me. No, I was talking about you. The interviewer seemed to slightly misunderstand Feynman's hesitation in the beginning, but then he was willing to listen and apparently saw the value in Feynman's response (otherwise this wouldn't have aired the way it did). You on the other hand are the one taking offense.
- chm 11y ago
  Then you are quite mistaken in your assumptions about me and should consider revising the basis on which you made them.
  - simoncion 11y ago
    You have hidden information that was only revealed much later in this conversation. One cannot be expected to divine this information. This thread would have turned out better if you had stated something to the effect of "I have watched this BBC programme many, many times and I have always felt that Feynman's minute of Socratic lead-up to his answer to the interviewer's question about magnetism is inappropriate and rude." in your original post. I doubt that many folks will read the comment you made to me in which you reveal that your opinions have been informed by multiple viewings of the source material in its entirety.