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> A more valuable 'quote' from Feynman would be to "Test everything yourself". Don't just take for granted the results of others but verify it yourself. IMO it
by jamesrcole 9y ago
> A more valuable 'quote' from Feynman would be to "Test everything yourself". Don't just take for granted the results of others but verify it yourself.
IMO it's more about "don't follow the path others take, where it's easy to make the same assumptions they did. work through things from first principles yourself".
- noir_lord 9y agoThe first principle thing is interesting because I've seen Elon Musk hammer that point in many of his talks. SpaceX was started because he sat on a plane and worked out the cost to orbit is limited only by fuel costs if you can make things reusable. It's something I've considered frequently since. Though I'm nowhere near as smart as Feynman or Musk.
- jamesrcole 9y agoI wonder, how many people could actually work through things from first principles, if they were taught how? I don't know, but I suspect a lot more than currently can/do. The education system doesn't currently make any attempt to teach these kinds of skills (AFAIK). I also wonder how much working through stuff like that might actually contribute to making people smart. It would be a valuable thing to find out.
- noir_lord 9y agoWhen I was in high school I had a teacher who taught us to consider lateral thinking when approaching a problem, it was valuable and something that's come in useful ever since. You are right, schools don't encourage it enough imo.