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There's something rather sad, maybe poignant about it. It stands there as a testimonial to our brevity on this planet, to all that we will not see, do, underst

There's something rather sad, maybe poignant about it. It stands there as a testimonial to our brevity on this planet, to all that we will not see, do, understand. So it goes, I guess.

bcatanzaro 2y ago
I almost want to read it as satire. Especially juxtaposed against his death. Because the ideas of "What I cannot create, I do not understand." and "Know how to solve every problem that has been solved" seem profoundly unwise and endlessly futile.
- gowld 2y ago
  If you are calling Richard Feynman "profoundly unwise" and "endlessly futile", you might need to do a bit more reflection on the grounding for your opinion.
  - jszymborski 2y ago
    Surely it can be true that a profoundly wise and consistently effective person holds a belief or utters a phrase that is profoundly unwise and endlessly futile.
    - ScotterC 2y ago
      Absolutely true. And paradoxically, they may fully understand that the phrase is profoundly unwise and endlessly futile and yet know the benefit of holding the belief anyway.
      - cutemonster 2y ago
        Isn't there an implicit "... that you stumbled upon, and found interesting". And to him (and others like him), that might have been possible. While for other more ordinary people, it'd be profoundly unwise and endlessly futile, to hope to do that
  - JKCalhoun 2y ago
    Feynman has a comment in one of his two autobiographies where he describes an argument with an artist friend — about, I think, the beauty of a rose. His friend believed that "dissecting" the rose, breaking it down to its biological components chemical processes, took away from the beauty of the rose. Feynman disagreed — couldn't understand how knowing more about the thing could possibly take away from it. It was the one thing I read from him where I disagreed with him. It seems strange to me he didn't see naivety, wonder as things someone might cherish. Those are things that you are in danger of losing when you come to know too much. I'm probably belaboring my point, but I remember when I was in my 20's pointing out to my girlfriend at the time some of the more well known constellations in the night sky. They were not well know to her. I'd try to point to a star, point to another — "There, that's Scorpio. You can see the one reddish star, Aldebaran in the center..." No, she could not see it. Christ, like Orion, I can't look up at the night sky in winter and not see it. What does she see in the sky at night? Oh, that's right, an amazing jumble of mysterious points of light — like I used to as a young boy. Funny when I later came across "When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer".
    - localhost 2y ago
      You can listen to him talk about it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbFM3rn4ldo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbFM3rn4ldo
    - jstanley 2y ago
      This comment went the exact opposite of the direction I was expecting. Do you also find that you enjoy magic tricks less when you know how they're done? Personally I find the "not knowing" kind of painful. I can't imagine cherishing ignorance.
      - calebio 2y ago
        Agreed. I find that I still have "wonder" all of the time, and that is what drives me to try and "figure it out". The sense of wonder never goes away, but my naivete about a single experience does go away. I don't know why I'd want to continue to be naive about something after experiencing it. There's plenty of new things to see and do that will generate that "wonder" feeling all over again.
everly 2y ago
I'm reminded of a passage from the last psychiatrist blog: “One of the great insights of psychoanalysis is that you never really want an object, you only want the wanting, which means the solution is to set your sights on an impossible ideal and work hard to reach it. You won’t. That’s not just okay, that’s the point. It’s ok if you fantasize about knowing kung fu if you then try to actually learn kung fu, eventually you will understand you can never really know kung fu, and then you will die. And it will have been worth it.” I don't think it's sad at all.
- crazygringo 2y ago
  > One of the great insights of psychoanalysis is that you never really want an object, you only want the wanting ...no it's not? Much of traditional psychoanalysis has been superseded by modern psychotherapy. And I'm not even familiar with that idea being part of psychoanalysis in the first place. (And there are many schools of psychoanalysis that disagree with each other too.) Quite frankly, it's not a great insight. It's perfectly fine to want something and then get it. Don't worry, you'll want something else afterwards. The idea that you should set your sights on an impossible goal doesn't hold up to the slightest logical scrutiny here. And a lot of people get disillusioned or burned out from trying to achieve impossible things and failing. Modern psychotherapy is actually about aiming for achievable, realistic goals in your life. It's much more in line with the serenity prayer, in terms of aiming for realism: God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
  - everly 2y ago
    It's from a 10+ year-old blog post so I wouldn't expect it to be in line with modern psychotherapy. It's an insight that has stuck with me since then and seems to strike a chord with others when shared, regardless of whether or not it's "great". Of course it's fine to want something and then get it. Last night I wanted a Klondike bar so I walked to my freezer and got one. This misses the point entirely. Plenty of examples of people getting what they thought they wanted and still feeling unfulfilled. I appreciate your point about the serenity prayer, I think there's something relevant there for sure.
noisy_boy 2y ago
We don't have much time and it takes too long to get that until there is too little left. The latter is the tragedy.
- nicklaf 2y ago
  "The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne." —Geoffrey Chaucer, Parlement of Foules
- mentos 2y ago
  Confucius — 'We have two lives, and the second begins when we realize we only have one.'

There's something rather sad, maybe poignant about it. It stands there as a testimonial to our brevity on this planet, to all that we will not see, do, understand. So it goes, I guess.

bcatanzaro 2y ago

I almost want to read it as satire. Especially juxtaposed against his death. Because the ideas of "What I cannot create, I do not understand." and "Know how to solve every problem that has been solved" seem profoundly unwise and endlessly futile.

gowld 2y ago
If you are calling Richard Feynman "profoundly unwise" and "endlessly futile", you might need to do a bit more reflection on the grounding for your opinion.
- jszymborski 2y ago
  Surely it can be true that a profoundly wise and consistently effective person holds a belief or utters a phrase that is profoundly unwise and endlessly futile.
  - ScotterC 2y ago
    Absolutely true. And paradoxically, they may fully understand that the phrase is profoundly unwise and endlessly futile and yet know the benefit of holding the belief anyway.
    - cutemonster 2y ago
      Isn't there an implicit "... that you stumbled upon, and found interesting". And to him (and others like him), that might have been possible. While for other more ordinary people, it'd be profoundly unwise and endlessly futile, to hope to do that
- JKCalhoun 2y ago
  Feynman has a comment in one of his two autobiographies where he describes an argument with an artist friend — about, I think, the beauty of a rose. His friend believed that "dissecting" the rose, breaking it down to its biological components chemical processes, took away from the beauty of the rose. Feynman disagreed — couldn't understand how knowing more about the thing could possibly take away from it. It was the one thing I read from him where I disagreed with him. It seems strange to me he didn't see naivety, wonder as things someone might cherish. Those are things that you are in danger of losing when you come to know too much. I'm probably belaboring my point, but I remember when I was in my 20's pointing out to my girlfriend at the time some of the more well known constellations in the night sky. They were not well know to her. I'd try to point to a star, point to another — "There, that's Scorpio. You can see the one reddish star, Aldebaran in the center..." No, she could not see it. Christ, like Orion, I can't look up at the night sky in winter and not see it. What does she see in the sky at night? Oh, that's right, an amazing jumble of mysterious points of light — like I used to as a young boy. Funny when I later came across "When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer".
  - localhost 2y ago
    You can listen to him talk about it! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbFM3rn4ldo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbFM3rn4ldo
  - jstanley 2y ago
    This comment went the exact opposite of the direction I was expecting. Do you also find that you enjoy magic tricks less when you know how they're done? Personally I find the "not knowing" kind of painful. I can't imagine cherishing ignorance.
    - calebio 2y ago
      Agreed. I find that I still have "wonder" all of the time, and that is what drives me to try and "figure it out". The sense of wonder never goes away, but my naivete about a single experience does go away. I don't know why I'd want to continue to be naive about something after experiencing it. There's plenty of new things to see and do that will generate that "wonder" feeling all over again.

everly 2y ago

I'm reminded of a passage from the last psychiatrist blog: “One of the great insights of psychoanalysis is that you never really want an object, you only want the wanting, which means the solution is to set your sights on an impossible ideal and work hard to reach it. You won’t. That’s not just okay, that’s the point. It’s ok if you fantasize about knowing kung fu if you then try to actually learn kung fu, eventually you will understand you can never really know kung fu, and then you will die. And it will have been worth it.” I don't think it's sad at all.

crazygringo 2y ago
> One of the great insights of psychoanalysis is that you never really want an object, you only want the wanting ...no it's not? Much of traditional psychoanalysis has been superseded by modern psychotherapy. And I'm not even familiar with that idea being part of psychoanalysis in the first place. (And there are many schools of psychoanalysis that disagree with each other too.) Quite frankly, it's not a great insight. It's perfectly fine to want something and then get it. Don't worry, you'll want something else afterwards. The idea that you should set your sights on an impossible goal doesn't hold up to the slightest logical scrutiny here. And a lot of people get disillusioned or burned out from trying to achieve impossible things and failing. Modern psychotherapy is actually about aiming for achievable, realistic goals in your life. It's much more in line with the serenity prayer, in terms of aiming for realism: God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
- everly 2y ago
  It's from a 10+ year-old blog post so I wouldn't expect it to be in line with modern psychotherapy. It's an insight that has stuck with me since then and seems to strike a chord with others when shared, regardless of whether or not it's "great". Of course it's fine to want something and then get it. Last night I wanted a Klondike bar so I walked to my freezer and got one. This misses the point entirely. Plenty of examples of people getting what they thought they wanted and still feeling unfulfilled. I appreciate your point about the serenity prayer, I think there's something relevant there for sure.

noisy_boy 2y ago

We don't have much time and it takes too long to get that until there is too little left. The latter is the tragedy.

nicklaf 2y ago
"The lyf so short, the craft so long to lerne." —Geoffrey Chaucer, Parlement of Foules
mentos 2y ago
Confucius — 'We have two lives, and the second begins when we realize we only have one.'