4 ms·

I have several friends who personally knew Feynman. He was a problematic individual in many ways. One of them remembers being in an elevator with his girlfriend

I have several friends who personally knew Feynman. He was a problematic individual in many ways. One of them remembers being in an elevator with his girlfriend, and Feynman getting on the elevator and immediately hitting on her. Another recalls being dragged along to crash parties at Caltech for free food. That same one commented that, yes, he was super careful about his legacy and all the stories published about him. But they spent time around him in a working context, and they are all absolutely clear in their minds that, beyond the showmanship, he was a genius.

WesolyKubeczek 6y ago
Here. You have used that word. PROBLEMATIC. You know, not "asshole". Not "womanizer". Not "arrogant" or even "abrasive". Not "his feet stank". No. PROBLEMATIC. A very nice umbrella term. Very vague. Very accusatory at the same time. Can't wait for the news where reeducation facilities are being built for the PROBLEMATIC individuals and measures being taken so that no PROBLEMATIC individuals ever remain. Another problem is, who's going to be the ultimate arbiter of who is PROBLEMATIC and who's not? (Oh, I probably am DEEPLY PROBLEMATIC by misvirtue of even talking about this. Keep 'em downvotes coming, but I'd rather see people eradicate this word from their vocabularies and say instead things like, "some people had reasons to dislike him". More, you know, honest that way.)
- dang 6y ago
  Please don't take HN threads into flamewar. Getting provoked by one word and making a flamewar reply out of it is definitely not in the set of response patterns we want here. We want the kind that lead to more interesting / less predictable discussion. To do this requires resisting this sort of provocation in oneself—i.e. waiting until the activation dies down, and then either moving on to something else or finding a more interesting response to share. More on that here: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=reflective%20reflex%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor.... Also, please don't use allcaps for emphasis and please don't go on about downvotes. These things are all in the site guidelines—would you please review them (https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html) and stick to the rules when posting here? We'd appreciate it, because we're trying to avoid the internet hell in which everything becomes consumed by the never-ending flamewars.
WesolyKubeczek 6y ago
Okay, I'll rephrase what I said in the flagged reply. Could you please rephrase what you wrote here, but without using the word "problematic" when describing a person? Thank you very much.
- madhadron 6y ago
  That's fair. I'm not sure what other word to use though. Admirable in some ways, socially unacceptable in others? Someone whose work was amazing but who really shouldn't be suggested as a role model? And who knows what parts of it are due to trauma and what parts are just being an asshole? I'm open to suggestions.
jandrese 6y ago
I've read Feynman's autobiography and at least half of the stuff in it reads like someone embellishing the story to make it more interesting. There are parts where he goes totally /r/redpill that would get him in trouble today if he were still alive.

WesolyKubeczek 6y ago

Here. You have used that word. PROBLEMATIC. You know, not "asshole". Not "womanizer". Not "arrogant" or even "abrasive". Not "his feet stank". No. PROBLEMATIC. A very nice umbrella term. Very vague. Very accusatory at the same time. Can't wait for the news where reeducation facilities are being built for the PROBLEMATIC individuals and measures being taken so that no PROBLEMATIC individuals ever remain. Another problem is, who's going to be the ultimate arbiter of who is PROBLEMATIC and who's not? (Oh, I probably am DEEPLY PROBLEMATIC by misvirtue of even talking about this. Keep 'em downvotes coming, but I'd rather see people eradicate this word from their vocabularies and say instead things like, "some people had reasons to dislike him". More, you know, honest that way.)

dang 6y ago
Please don't take HN threads into flamewar. Getting provoked by one word and making a flamewar reply out of it is definitely not in the set of response patterns we want here. We want the kind that lead to more interesting / less predictable discussion. To do this requires resisting this sort of provocation in oneself—i.e. waiting until the activation dies down, and then either moving on to something else or finding a more interesting response to share. More on that here: https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sort=byDate&type=comment&query=reflective%20reflex%20by:dang https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor.... Also, please don't use allcaps for emphasis and please don't go on about downvotes. These things are all in the site guidelines—would you please review them (https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html) and stick to the rules when posting here? We'd appreciate it, because we're trying to avoid the internet hell in which everything becomes consumed by the never-ending flamewars.

WesolyKubeczek 6y ago

Okay, I'll rephrase what I said in the flagged reply. Could you please rephrase what you wrote here, but without using the word "problematic" when describing a person? Thank you very much.

madhadron 6y ago
That's fair. I'm not sure what other word to use though. Admirable in some ways, socially unacceptable in others? Someone whose work was amazing but who really shouldn't be suggested as a role model? And who knows what parts of it are due to trauma and what parts are just being an asshole? I'm open to suggestions.

jandrese 6y ago

I've read Feynman's autobiography and at least half of the stuff in it reads like someone embellishing the story to make it more interesting. There are parts where he goes totally /r/redpill that would get him in trouble today if he were still alive.