7 ms·

Yo-Yo Ma Performs Richard Feynman’s Ode to the Wonder of Life, Animated

71 points by RafelMri 5y ago

telesilla 5y ago
He's playing Bach, as a narration background. It's not a specific work made for this and probably just taken from an existing recording. Nice enough but not much to warrant specific attention for the cellist master.
- bloak 5y ago
  Yes, I think it's BWV 1011: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz8QjkaSSH4#t=131 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz8QjkaSSH4#t=131 However I won't claim it's exactly that recording because I've just found this, which suggests there are three Yo-Yo Ma recordings of this piece, even if you don't count various live recordings: "In 2018, he released a recording of Bach's six cello suites, called “Six Evolutions;” it was his third time recording the suites over the course of his life, and, he's said, it will be his last." (https://www.classicalwcrb.org/blog/2020-05-19/bachs-cello-suites-live-with-yo-yo-ma https://www.classicalwcrb.org/blog/2020-05-19/bachs-cello-su...)
fsloth 5y ago
Symphony of Science is another sample in this genre of "remixing popular science" https://melodysheep.bandcamp.com/album/symphony-of-science-collectors-edition https://melodysheep.bandcamp.com/album/symphony-of-science-c... Nightwish had their "Greates show on Earth" with Sir Richard Dawkins which is perhaps most intentional in the artistic sense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrMwxe2ya5E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrMwxe2ya5E What else is there in this genre? It seems frightfully scarce.
- nomilk 5y ago
  Keynesian Vs Hayekian economics rap battle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTQnarzmTOc&t=1m53s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTQnarzmTOc&t=1m53s
  - deleted 5y ago
    [deleted]
- yesenadam 5y ago
  This one is funny, if anyone hasn't seen it: Albert Einstein vs Stephen Hawking. Epic Rap Battles of History https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zn7-fVtT16k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zn7-fVtT16k
archhn 5y ago
This poem is from outside the bounds of ordinary human experience. It conveys a sense of absurdity and an immensity of scale that belittles the individual. I find it quite harrowing. Within the ordinary bounds of human experience, there is meaning and rich individual life. We form bonds to each other, we grow, we experience and interpret the world. When we step outside our lives and immerse ourselves in the various structures and properties of the universe, it can seem so senseless, but that's only because this realm of pure intellect is alienated from our lives. If we follow our intellect too far away from life, things become unbearably surreal. It's like when Goethe mocks philosophers in Faust because they fly off into other barren intellectual worlds when life is all around them. I feel the same way about the mindset that produced this poem as well.
- dwringer 5y ago
  The line "I... a universe of atoms... an atom in the universe" implies to me that the narrator views himself as the tiniest piece of an infinite tapestry of life. I think Feynman was many things but lost "into other barren intellectual worlds" he was not.
  - archhn 5y ago
    Which is to say that he is nothing; it's nihilistic. What is a drop water in an ocean? One drop less won't make the seas recede. Life, death, where is the boundary when one is subsumed in the all? We are not anonymous atoms in the fabric of an unconscious universe. We have friends, family, and experience life in a unique way. We have the ability to channel our uniqueness into creative acts which introduce completely new combinations into the world. A black hole, a star, can't produce the Mona Lisa, and no one other than Divinci could. It was an outgrowth of his individuality. This idea that we are passive beings, like atoms, completely disregards our ability to create. We tower above the unconscious elements of the universe. We are creators! Putting us on the uncreative level of atoms is slander against humanity.
    - dwringer 5y ago
      Well that's certainly one way to view it, but I am not sure whether it's how Feynman himself would have viewed it. To me there's an implication there that he doesn't view atoms in this context as passive beings since Feynman was definitely not a passive kind of person. I think instead the line suggests that even the smallest possible part of the universe contains all the beauty and complexity of the entire universe as well as life itself. But you do make a fascinating argument. It's an interesting philosophical point to be sure. EDIT: Perhaps there is at least potential for resolution if we give up the classical definition of atoms (being the smallest indivisible parts) in favor of that of modern physics, in which not all atoms are created equal. But that opens up a whole other can of worms.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
wejick 5y ago
The performance aside. I love the design of the site, it reminds me when internet was dominated by blogs. It feels like page to read, not an application for content consumption.
baruchel 5y ago
Just noticing that Feynman's word are very close of Keats' ones: "then on the shore // Of the wide world I stand alone, and think" (see https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44488/when-i-have-fears-that-i-may-cease-to-be https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44488/when-i-have-fea...)

71 points by RafelMri 5y ago

He's playing Bach, as a narration background. It's not a specific work made for this and probably just taken from an existing recording. Nice enough but not much to warrant specific attention for the cellist master.

bloak 5y ago
Yes, I think it's BWV 1011: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz8QjkaSSH4#t=131 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz8QjkaSSH4#t=131 However I won't claim it's exactly that recording because I've just found this, which suggests there are three Yo-Yo Ma recordings of this piece, even if you don't count various live recordings: "In 2018, he released a recording of Bach's six cello suites, called “Six Evolutions;” it was his third time recording the suites over the course of his life, and, he's said, it will be his last." (https://www.classicalwcrb.org/blog/2020-05-19/bachs-cello-suites-live-with-yo-yo-ma https://www.classicalwcrb.org/blog/2020-05-19/bachs-cello-su...)

fsloth 5y ago

Symphony of Science is another sample in this genre of "remixing popular science" https://melodysheep.bandcamp.com/album/symphony-of-science-collectors-edition https://melodysheep.bandcamp.com/album/symphony-of-science-c... Nightwish had their "Greates show on Earth" with Sir Richard Dawkins which is perhaps most intentional in the artistic sense: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrMwxe2ya5E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrMwxe2ya5E What else is there in this genre? It seems frightfully scarce.

nomilk 5y ago
Keynesian Vs Hayekian economics rap battle https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTQnarzmTOc&t=1m53s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTQnarzmTOc&t=1m53s
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
yesenadam 5y ago
This one is funny, if anyone hasn't seen it: Albert Einstein vs Stephen Hawking. Epic Rap Battles of History https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zn7-fVtT16k https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zn7-fVtT16k

archhn 5y ago

This poem is from outside the bounds of ordinary human experience. It conveys a sense of absurdity and an immensity of scale that belittles the individual. I find it quite harrowing. Within the ordinary bounds of human experience, there is meaning and rich individual life. We form bonds to each other, we grow, we experience and interpret the world. When we step outside our lives and immerse ourselves in the various structures and properties of the universe, it can seem so senseless, but that's only because this realm of pure intellect is alienated from our lives. If we follow our intellect too far away from life, things become unbearably surreal. It's like when Goethe mocks philosophers in Faust because they fly off into other barren intellectual worlds when life is all around them. I feel the same way about the mindset that produced this poem as well.

dwringer 5y ago
The line "I... a universe of atoms... an atom in the universe" implies to me that the narrator views himself as the tiniest piece of an infinite tapestry of life. I think Feynman was many things but lost "into other barren intellectual worlds" he was not.
- archhn 5y ago
  Which is to say that he is nothing; it's nihilistic. What is a drop water in an ocean? One drop less won't make the seas recede. Life, death, where is the boundary when one is subsumed in the all? We are not anonymous atoms in the fabric of an unconscious universe. We have friends, family, and experience life in a unique way. We have the ability to channel our uniqueness into creative acts which introduce completely new combinations into the world. A black hole, a star, can't produce the Mona Lisa, and no one other than Divinci could. It was an outgrowth of his individuality. This idea that we are passive beings, like atoms, completely disregards our ability to create. We tower above the unconscious elements of the universe. We are creators! Putting us on the uncreative level of atoms is slander against humanity.
  - dwringer 5y ago
    Well that's certainly one way to view it, but I am not sure whether it's how Feynman himself would have viewed it. To me there's an implication there that he doesn't view atoms in this context as passive beings since Feynman was definitely not a passive kind of person. I think instead the line suggests that even the smallest possible part of the universe contains all the beauty and complexity of the entire universe as well as life itself. But you do make a fascinating argument. It's an interesting philosophical point to be sure. EDIT: Perhaps there is at least potential for resolution if we give up the classical definition of atoms (being the smallest indivisible parts) in favor of that of modern physics, in which not all atoms are created equal. But that opens up a whole other can of worms.

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

wejick 5y ago

The performance aside. I love the design of the site, it reminds me when internet was dominated by blogs. It feels like page to read, not an application for content consumption.

baruchel 5y ago

Just noticing that Feynman's word are very close of Keats' ones: "then on the shore // Of the wide world I stand alone, and think" (see https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44488/when-i-have-fears-that-i-may-cease-to-be https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44488/when-i-have-fea...)