3 ms·
Angela Collier has a 3-hour video on the topic (The Sham Legacy of Richard Feynman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwKpj2ISQAc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
by bsoles 10mo ago
Angela Collier has a 3-hour video on the topic (The Sham Legacy of Richard Feynman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwKpj2ISQAc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwKpj2ISQAc) with funny takes and criticism. It has been a while, so I cannot remember if she was criticizing Feynman himself to some extent or how his legacy is being portrayed by the media. In the latter case, I am also a bit annoyed how he is constantly portrayed as some kind of a super star by American media, where the rest of the world does not really care that much.
- RickyLahey 10mo agoespecially reading Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman! leaves a bad taste in my mouth after all these years. i can only take the title literally "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!"
- wolfi1 10mo agoSurely you're joking Mr Feynman begins in the 30s and takes us to the 60s IIRC, so one has to take into account, what the mainstream was in those times. But he is against hazing, explaining how traumatized European Jews were hazed and reliving their fears in Europe. But, of course, some things cannot be understood nowadays with the mindset we have now.
- RickyLahey 9mo agoi don't mean the misogyny but the general vibe of how full of himself/sociopathic he was there are books from the 19 century written by people with much better values
- startupsfail 10mo agoThere is a nice essay from Paul Graham that starts with: > The word "prig" isn't very common now, but if you look up the definition, it will sound familiar.
- queuebert 10mo agoThis should be required reading to make an account here.
- RickyLahey 9mo agocalling someone that is rich coming from paul graham. come on guys. what's next? reading mark manson? a16z?
- sp527 10mo agoThis video is clickbait drivel. Her criticism is purely about the man, not Feynman as a physicist, a thinker, or a teacher. Feynman was probably on the spectrum and he had a lot of problematic behaviors. That doesn't meaningfully alter the core of his legacy. It's also not terribly insightful to point out that a great figure from history was deeply flawed. If anything, that's so common as to be nearly guaranteed.
- contagiousflow 10mo agoI don't think you actually watched the video? Nearly all of the criticism is about the myth creation around him with a short bit at the end mostly praising him as a person
- deleted 10mo ago[deleted]
- the__alchemist 10mo agoHer primary thesis, if I understood correctly, is to clarify that none of the books with Feynman listed as the author were written by him, and that they were transcribed from interviews, lectures etc with editorializing. For example, by Ralph Leighton. Her secondary point was that she hates the "autobiographical" ones, and finds parts sexist, and thinks most of the stories are mostly false/lies/storytelling. With that in mind, I think we'll agree it's not relevant here, as these seem to be handwritten notes by Feynman himself.
- oh_my_goodness 10mo agoFeynman didn’t write these notes. John T. Neer did. There’s an explanation at the beginning.
- the__alchemist 10mo agoTy for the correction!
- takinola 10mo ago> and thinks most of the stories are mostly false/lies/storytelling. It's been a while since I read "Surely, you must be joking" but I seem to recall Feynman himself makes the same point. He basically says something to the effect that some of his stories and bon mots are things he wished he said or did rather than stuff that actually happened.
- idiotsecant 10mo agoThis video really helped solidify for me why I always thought the worship of Feynman was kind of weird. Collier is a treasure.