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

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

#61

Post by mistermann »

ErrantX wrote: post #34

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

Exactly....I swear Feynman could have encountered the proverbial pig farmer and talked for several hours and left, and if someone told the farmer who they were talking to later, they wouldn't believe them, they'd just say he was an extremely interesting guy. He could find interesting things about almost any subject, and get everyone excited about them.

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

#62

Post by [deleted] »

JCThoughtscream wrote: post #49
BRadmin wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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/

Peace of mind can just as easily be interpreted as "comfort within one's madness."

[deleted]

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

#63

Post by bluedanieru »

teilo wrote: post #2

Classic Feynman: "with one exception, fall madly in love!"

The comments on that make we want to tear my hair out. About half the posts are people convinced Feynman is implying that all women are necessarily non-technical.

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

#64

Post by bvi »

mistermann wrote: post #60
sbierwagen wrote: post #48

Wolfram is damn smart. I'll give him that. He also made a pile of money on Mathematica. I'll give him that as well. It was classic "solve your own problem" entrepreneurship. He needed a better computer algebra program, so he wrote one, then started selling it.[1] But he's a crank. He wrote a couple good papers in the 80s, then hasn't done anything decent since. He published A New Kind Of Science in 2002, which was su…

> He published A New Kind Of Science in 2002 I read it, back in 2002, and was quite excited before starting, but I honestly can't recall a single thing from that book. I can't even remember if I was disappointed after reading it.

Is that Wolfram's fault, or yours?

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

#65

Post by Confusion »

bluedanieru wrote: post #63
teilo wrote: post #2

Classic Feynman: "with one exception, fall madly in love!"

The comments on that make we want to tear my hair out. About half the posts are people convinced Feynman is implying that all women are necessarily non-technical.

That is partially true: during the first part of his life, Feynman really didn't have a high opinion of the intellectual capabilities of women.

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

#68

Post by nailer »

koeselitz wrote: post #66

Richard Feynman is kind of a jerk. Edit: What I mean is: How condescending is it to write someone a letter saying that they don't understand people, and they should try falling in love?

I don't think he's a jerk, but yes, many people would 'cushion' that assessment with 'it seems like' or 'I don't mean to offend, but I suggest'. Others don't get the need to do that. Personally I find there's a balance between being direct and handling people's egos.

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

#70

Post by apmee »

Confusion wrote: post #65
bluedanieru wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The comments on that make we want to tear my hair out. About half the posts are people convinced Feynman is implying that all women are necessarily non-technical.

That is partially true: during the first part of his life, Feynman really didn't have a high opinion of the intellectual capabilities of women.

Really? Can I ask what you're basing that on? I'm not disbelieving you, just skeptically curious :)
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