5 ms·

Feynman On The Importance Of Playing

190 points by tebeka 15y ago

sp332 15y ago
A TED talk from a woman (Paula Scher) who knows how to be "serious" without being "solemn" and losing your sense of play: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/paula_scher_gets_serious.html http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/paula_scher_gets_serious....
- cfn 15y ago
  Thanks for the link, it is a fantastic talk and her work is very good.
Mongoose 15y ago
Upvote if you spent at least a couple seconds trying to unhighlight the Feynman text.
suivix 15y ago
Principal Skinner: Here's a whole box of unsealed envelopes for the PTA! Bart: You're making me lick envelopes? P.S.: Oh, licking envelopes can be fun! All you have to do is make a game of it. Bart: What kind of game? P.S.: Well, for example, you could see how many you could lick in an hour, then try to break that record. Bart: Sounds like a pretty crappy game to me. P.S.: Yes, well... Get started.
- antimora 15y ago
  Sound a lot like something was done at my work. Metrics, just as number of tickets closed, were given. More we do the better :-)
microarchitect 15y ago
I'm a grad student and I regularly run across this quote of Feynman. What strikes me about the quote is that unlike Feynman, I can't always just drop whatever project I'm currently working on and start doing "cool new stuff". I have responsibilities and commitments to my adviser and my colleagues. Even if I'm at a point in my research where starting something new is possible, sources of funding, adviser's expertise and interests etc. still constrain what I can possibly work on. I guess you can do whatever catches your fancy if you're Richard Feynman. For the rest of us mortals, the challenge is in finding interesting stuff to do within the constraints of the environment we're working in. The lesson that I take from the quote is that you've got keep yourself interested in whatever you're doing. If getting up in the morning and turning up to the lab seems like a chore, then something needs to change until it isn't.
- mannicken 15y ago
  A lot of the barriers are in your head ;-)
  - microarchitect 15y ago
    I assume you're trying to say that if I actually asked for something, I might get it. Good point, and I agree!
    - mannicken 15y ago
      Well, you said that you can't just 'drop the project' but that's not true. No one is forcing you to work on it but yourself.
- iradik 15y ago
  Hmm.. I think the point is that people can accomplish a lot more when they are playing instead of working. I think the strategy works as long as you produce results that are better than your peers. Sure mgmt/profs will complain how your estimates/proposals are always inaccurate, but ultimately delivering results is what matters. It's a risk of course; certainly the less travelled road, but I don't think you have to be feynman for the strategy to work. You do, however, need the abililty to "not care what other people think," which is part of the title of another one of feynman's books.
- dorkitude 15y ago
  While I sympathize with your specific situation, I can't help but suspect that, in the general case, there's something of a selection bias when it comes to playfulness and autonomy. What I mean is, people who are dedicated to maintaining their playfulness will tend to opt out of systems that don't allow it. Anecdotally speaking, a lot of the creative and playful people I know seem to spend their careers moving, incrementally of course, from less autonomy to more autonomy. I see these moves happen when people leave a job, accept a new job, start a business, switch majors, transfer universities, or apply to specific grad program. My point is that it could have been something essential to Feynman's character that led him toward the amount of autonomy he's famous for having had.
kongqiu 15y ago
Play is so important, but since it's difficult to measure the value, it gets down-played as "non-productive." While it's obvious when someone is "over-playing," it's just as important to identify when you're "under-playing"... Some of my biggest breakthroughs on work-related projects have come to me as I've been hiking, taking in a museum with my wife, or pushing my daughter on a swingset.
georgeott 15y ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serendipity http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serendipity
altrego99 15y ago
You can't like to do something unless you can play with it without worrying about the consequences. This is the exact reason why I didn't want to do PhD... and I am glad I still like Physics, Statistics, and Mathematics - because I play with them whenever I want to.
hrabago 15y ago
This is what I like about coding. I enjoy trying to solve those small puzzles that make up a full application. The problem sometimes is that the application gets so big and the solutions take too long that it becomes a grind. I find that when I reach that point, it helps to take a break, look at the problem with a fresh mind, and try to break down the solution into smaller pieces. At that level, some parts become interesting and fun again, even though others might not be. At least you have fun in some of the parts, instead of feeling the grind of the entire thing.
EdwardCoffin 15y ago
There's a good anecdote about Feynman and his sense of play in Danny Hillis's keynote for the 2000 Game Developer's Conference (video at http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1014862/2000-GDC-Keynote-Dr-Daniel http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1014862/2000-GDC-Keynote-Dr-Dan...). At 10:50 he talks about asking a physics question with respect to why dry spaghetti shatters a certain way, and what that led to. There are also some other good stories in that talk, one about Marvin Minsky which immediately follows the Feynman story. The whole thing is worth listening to, I think.

190 points by tebeka 15y ago

sp332 15y ago

A TED talk from a woman (Paula Scher) who knows how to be "serious" without being "solemn" and losing your sense of play: http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/paula_scher_gets_serious.html http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/paula_scher_gets_serious....

cfn 15y ago
Thanks for the link, it is a fantastic talk and her work is very good.

Mongoose 15y ago

Upvote if you spent at least a couple seconds trying to unhighlight the Feynman text.

suivix 15y ago

Principal Skinner: Here's a whole box of unsealed envelopes for the PTA! Bart: You're making me lick envelopes? P.S.: Oh, licking envelopes can be fun! All you have to do is make a game of it. Bart: What kind of game? P.S.: Well, for example, you could see how many you could lick in an hour, then try to break that record. Bart: Sounds like a pretty crappy game to me. P.S.: Yes, well... Get started.

antimora 15y ago
Sound a lot like something was done at my work. Metrics, just as number of tickets closed, were given. More we do the better :-)

microarchitect 15y ago

I'm a grad student and I regularly run across this quote of Feynman. What strikes me about the quote is that unlike Feynman, I can't always just drop whatever project I'm currently working on and start doing "cool new stuff". I have responsibilities and commitments to my adviser and my colleagues. Even if I'm at a point in my research where starting something new is possible, sources of funding, adviser's expertise and interests etc. still constrain what I can possibly work on. I guess you can do whatever catches your fancy if you're Richard Feynman. For the rest of us mortals, the challenge is in finding interesting stuff to do within the constraints of the environment we're working in. The lesson that I take from the quote is that you've got keep yourself interested in whatever you're doing. If getting up in the morning and turning up to the lab seems like a chore, then something needs to change until it isn't.

mannicken 15y ago
A lot of the barriers are in your head ;-)
- microarchitect 15y ago
  I assume you're trying to say that if I actually asked for something, I might get it. Good point, and I agree!
  - mannicken 15y ago
    Well, you said that you can't just 'drop the project' but that's not true. No one is forcing you to work on it but yourself.
iradik 15y ago
Hmm.. I think the point is that people can accomplish a lot more when they are playing instead of working. I think the strategy works as long as you produce results that are better than your peers. Sure mgmt/profs will complain how your estimates/proposals are always inaccurate, but ultimately delivering results is what matters. It's a risk of course; certainly the less travelled road, but I don't think you have to be feynman for the strategy to work. You do, however, need the abililty to "not care what other people think," which is part of the title of another one of feynman's books.
dorkitude 15y ago
While I sympathize with your specific situation, I can't help but suspect that, in the general case, there's something of a selection bias when it comes to playfulness and autonomy. What I mean is, people who are dedicated to maintaining their playfulness will tend to opt out of systems that don't allow it. Anecdotally speaking, a lot of the creative and playful people I know seem to spend their careers moving, incrementally of course, from less autonomy to more autonomy. I see these moves happen when people leave a job, accept a new job, start a business, switch majors, transfer universities, or apply to specific grad program. My point is that it could have been something essential to Feynman's character that led him toward the amount of autonomy he's famous for having had.

kongqiu 15y ago

Play is so important, but since it's difficult to measure the value, it gets down-played as "non-productive." While it's obvious when someone is "over-playing," it's just as important to identify when you're "under-playing"... Some of my biggest breakthroughs on work-related projects have come to me as I've been hiking, taking in a museum with my wife, or pushing my daughter on a swingset.

georgeott 15y ago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serendipity http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serendipity

altrego99 15y ago

You can't like to do something unless you can play with it without worrying about the consequences. This is the exact reason why I didn't want to do PhD... and I am glad I still like Physics, Statistics, and Mathematics - because I play with them whenever I want to.

hrabago 15y ago

This is what I like about coding. I enjoy trying to solve those small puzzles that make up a full application. The problem sometimes is that the application gets so big and the solutions take too long that it becomes a grind. I find that when I reach that point, it helps to take a break, look at the problem with a fresh mind, and try to break down the solution into smaller pieces. At that level, some parts become interesting and fun again, even though others might not be. At least you have fun in some of the parts, instead of feeling the grind of the entire thing.

EdwardCoffin 15y ago

There's a good anecdote about Feynman and his sense of play in Danny Hillis's keynote for the 2000 Game Developer's Conference (video at http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1014862/2000-GDC-Keynote-Dr-Daniel http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1014862/2000-GDC-Keynote-Dr-Dan...). At 10:50 he talks about asking a physics question with respect to why dry spaghetti shatters a certain way, and what that led to. There are also some other good stories in that talk, one about Marvin Minsky which immediately follows the Feynman story. The whole thing is worth listening to, I think.