"You Don't Understand Ordinary People" - Feynman Gives Advice to Wolfram • Hacker News Board

Re: "You Don't Understand Ordinary People" - Feynman Gives Advice to Wolfram

#31

Post by danielnicollet » Wed, Jun 09, 2010, 10:14 PM UTC

BRadmin wrote: post #22

albertcardona wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Someone once said that madness was necessary for creating. Does anybody know who it was? Can't find it.

It's interesting because Wolfram quotes Feynman as saying: "Peace of mind is the most important prerequisite for creative work." http://www.stephenwolfram.com/publications/recent/feynman/

I think you can be a peaceful nut-case though. I am the living proof ;-) No seriously though, "peace of mind" and "madness" or insanity are not necessarily contrary to one another.

Re: "You Don't Understand Ordinary People" - Feynman Gives Advice to Wolfram

#32

Post by chollida1 » Wed, Jun 09, 2010, 10:15 PM UTC

pclark wrote: post #13

i thought this was in response to Wolfram Alpha.

Feynman was dead for many years before Wolfram Alpha came out. That would have been some feat to communicate with him then:)

The letter is also dated: October 14, 1985.

Re: "You Don't Understand Ordinary People" - Feynman Gives Advice to Wolfram

#33

Post by albemuth » Wed, Jun 09, 2010, 10:17 PM UTC

pclark wrote: post #13

i thought this was in response to Wolfram Alpha.

He passed away long before WA

Re: "You Don't Understand Ordinary People" - Feynman Gives Advice to Wolfram

#34

Post by ErrantX » Wed, Jun 09, 2010, 10:26 PM UTC

The bit I particularly like is the fact that Feynman was also one of the great minds who did understand ordinary people.

I regularly dig out his lectures on pop-physics for a refresher :D

Re: "You Don't Understand Ordinary People" - Feynman Gives Advice to Wolfram

#35

Post by orborde » Wed, Jun 09, 2010, 10:28 PM UTC

Despite ignoring Feynman's advice, Wolfram seems to have done well enough, at least financially. Whether his sanity has lasted is another question entirely.

Re: "You Don't Understand Ordinary People" - Feynman Gives Advice to Wolfram

#36

Post by col_kurtz » Wed, Jun 09, 2010, 10:32 PM UTC

This part is excellent:

You don’t understand "ordinary people." To you they are "stupid fools" - so you will not tolerate them or treat their foibles with tolerance or patience - but will drive yourself wild (or they will drive you wild) trying to deal with them in an effective way.

It seems like Feynman is carving a broader archetype here as well.

So often in intellectual circles, programming/tech forums & comments this happens, where you are talked down to simply because somebody feels intellectually superior by birth or right, usually discounting other forms of intelligence but their own.

How many times have you seen comments prefaced by "I know this is a stupid question, but", "I am new to so and so technology, so", "Understand that this is not my area of expertise, and"?

All roughly translated to "Please don't rip me a new one because I might not know what you do" (though probably get out more).

Re: "You Don't Understand Ordinary People" - Feynman Gives Advice to Wolfram

#37

Post by T_S_ » Wed, Jun 09, 2010, 10:35 PM UTC

arebop wrote: post #25

dhs wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Citation, please.

The impression I got from this talk: http://www.stephenwolfram.com/publications/recent/ycombinato... is that he became a businessman reluctantly.

I don't read reluctance into those comments at all. Just look at the comments on personnel management. It's clear he likes it. The early remarks about the "stupid decisions" being made at the first company are a clear sign. Most business leaders know it's culturally not cool to talk like they enjoy leadership. To me, Wolfram went to the enfant terrible school of management. At least he turned out to be competent enough to last.

Re: "You Don't Understand Ordinary People" - Feynman Gives Advice to Wolfram

#38

Post by SkyMarshal » Wed, Jun 09, 2010, 10:44 PM UTC

Very cool site. <3 HN for these little gems.

Re: "You Don't Understand Ordinary People" - Feynman Gives Advice to Wolfram

#39

Post by F_J_H » Wed, Jun 09, 2010, 10:46 PM UTC

My favorite Wolfram "dig" went something along the lines of: "The question is who will become self aware first: Wolfram or Wolfram Alpha.", eluding to the fact that apparently he is pretty impressed with himself and happy to share it. Can't remember who said it though. Anyway, this post just made me remember it.

Re: "You Don't Understand Ordinary People" - Feynman Gives Advice to Wolfram

#40

Post by pedoh » Wed, Jun 09, 2010, 10:50 PM UTC

If you haven't read any of Richard Feynman's books, I highly recommend them. They're not only fascinating, but with a wonderful sense of humor, as well. I particularly love the chapter in "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!" about his safecracking exploits. Not only did it show his physical skills and dexterity, but his ability to do social engineering, as well. Great stuff.

In "What Do You Care What Other People Think?" he talks a lot about the investigation into the Challenger explosion. Amazing writing on such a serious topic, in my opinion.