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What impossible meant to Richard Feynman
- JTon 5y agoGood read. Here's the answer to the title question: > I also learned that “impossible,” when used by Feynman, did not necessarily mean “unachievable” or “ridiculous.” Sometimes it meant, “Wow! Here is something amazing that contradicts what we would normally expect to be true. This is worth understanding!”
- hasmanean 5y agoLewis Carrol wrote in Alice in Wonderland, the red Queen saying “sometimes I believe 6 impossible things before breakfast.”
- JKCalhoun 5y agoAn enjoyable read. I think I am suspicious of the usual fawning over Feynman that I see (maybe because I am suspicious of any cult of personality — I think we all know Feynman was not without flaws). I found the description of the author's interactions with Feynman to be truly delightful. There is a hint of worshipfulness in the set-up but I think the infamous physicist delivered.
- tantalor 5y ago> hint of worshipfulness "my scientific idol, the legendary physicist" Certainly a strong hint, isn't it?
- toss1 5y agoTrue, it's strong, but not unreasoned — he was describing his attitude as a student who knew at the time only of Feynman's reputation, having not yet had many direct human interactions with the "legendary physicist". Sad that he's gone so those interactions are no longer possible in this world. It's wonderful to read how an obviously brilliant scientist in his own right treasured those times with Feynman, and how often we read such accounts here on HN.
- yamazakiwi 5y agoCult of personality is quite an exaggeration.
- GDC7 5y agoTo me the most amazing thing about Feynman was his enthusiasm for relatively mundane things such as the Rio Carnival, stripclubs, the bongos, painting and the fixation for going to Tuva which is a place forgotten by both god and men. You'd think a guy who accomplished the things he accomplished would find it harder and harder to become enthusiastic about stuff, because of the effect of the hedonistic treadmill. Somehow I think his biggest accomplishment was his ability to slow down the hedonistic tradmill.
- montblanc 5y agostripclubs? Edit: OK yes there were a bunch of stripclubs lol
- alisonkisk 5y agoFeyman went to strip clubs to sit and work like people do at coffee shops nowadays.
- mbg721 5y agoAs I recall the stories, his playing of the bongos wasn't exactly mundane; if anything, he was an expert at establishing eccentricity as a personal identity.
- GDC7 5y agoI mean, c'mon.....with all due respect for bongo players...reaching excellence in that field is also mundane as society doesn't exactly put bongo players on a pedestal
- tzs 5y ago> He called out my mistakes using words like “crazy,” “nuts,” “ridiculous,” and “stupid.” One of the things I liked when I was a student at Caltech is that (1) most people recognized they were surrounded by people at least as smart as they were, (2) most people knew that even the most brilliant people occasionally make mistakes (often even elementary mistakes), and (3) most realized that someone calling your idea "stupid" doesn't mean they were calling you stupid--they would freely admit that they too occasionally offered stupid ideas. When you had a stupid idea someone would tell you, without a lot of tiptoeing around or trying to work in some praise too to balance things out. Just say it and we move on. This would have been a quite plausible conversation at Caltech: tzs: we should try X. someone: that's a stupid approach. It can't work. tzs: [thinks about it a moment] Yeah, you're right. Never mind. Also plausible would have been a conversation that starts with the same first two sentences but ends like this: tzs: no it is not. Someone: [thinks about it a moment] Oh...yeah X should work. Let's try it.
- SavantIdiot 5y agoThat only works when both people are in on it. If someone doesn't know "stupid" is code for "that idea is stupid" and not "you are stupid", it isn't a very effective communication mechanism. People are complex, and it is not helpful to assume everyone should just go about their day to day as an emotionless robot. I mean, you can assume that, but unless you're a CEO or a famous Professor, you'll just be thought of as an asshole to be avoided.
- leephillips 5y agoIt's not "code". Saying "that idea is stupid" is different from saying "you are stupid". Nobody has to be "in on" anything. However, unless one is used to this frank style of communication, I'm sure it can be off-putting.
- crispyambulance 5y ago"used to" is basically the same thing as "in on it". Moreover, context matters a lot with language style. One can't just lift Feynman's way of talking, transplant it somewhere else and expect it to be effective.
- mjfl 5y agoIt meant picking women up at bars :)
- mmphosis 5y agoThe Feynman Lectures on Physics https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/ https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/ Table of Contents (Volumes I II III) https://feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/I_toc.html https://feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/I_toc.html https://feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/II_toc.html https://feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/II_toc.html https://feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/III_toc.html https://feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/III_toc.html Atoms in Motion https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/I_01.html https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/I_01.html
- spodek 5y agoWow, I took a class from Paul Steinhardt when I was starting my PhD in physics at Penn. I think it was in him in his class who asked us how planes flew. I raised my hand and said the Bernoulli principle. He showed how despite schools teaching it forever, it couldn't be right. Otherwise planes couldn't fly upside down but they do.
- imranq 5y agoAfter the volumes of Feynman material I've consumed, Feynman and his students still keep me up with wonder. This was a great read, and I'll have to start digging into quasicrystals now
- rambojazz 5y agoTL;DR: “Wow! Here is something amazing that contradicts what we would normally expect to be true. This is worth understanding!” I don't think this is exclusive to Feynman, or surprising at all. I know for example my friends and I have used this "meaning" since forever, and I'm sure we are not the only ones.