I feel that these Feynman-isms can hide just how good of a scientist he was.
Feynman’s Breakthrough, Disregard Others (2017)
11–20 of 88 posts
Re: Feynman’s Breakthrough, Disregard Others (2017)
#12This feels like the sort of advice that increases the variance of outcomes more than the mean , if that makes any sense. It'll help some people, but also really won't help others. It's like... You'd need some serious disregard for the rest of the physics community to think you can figure out a reactionless drive. This is great if you actually can, but otherwise it's going to lead you to failure. In a lot of ways, get…
The more experienced I get at programming, the more I find that disregarding others is the correct choice. I have a background and intuition informed by 'common wisdom', but enough confidence to go against it when it seems to make sense without second guessing myself.
Well, at least sometimes. I am getting better at it.
For a master of his domain like Feynman that affect would surely have been amplified. He can back himself to go on a tangent, against the backdrop of the backdrop of the fundamentals of his field.
Re: Feynman’s Breakthrough, Disregard Others (2017)
#13I'm a bit astounded by some of the more intellectual / academic interpretations of this story. The moral of this story, if there needs to be one, is to "follow your nose" - go where your knowledge and interests take you, and who cares what your peers think about it.
Re: Feynman’s Breakthrough, Disregard Others (2017)
#14I feel that these Feynman-isms can hide just how good of a scientist he was.
The root of these Feynman-isms is exactly why he was a good scientist. He goes on at length about why this is in his various books.
Re: Feynman’s Breakthrough, Disregard Others (2017)
#15This resembles the titular lesson from (Feynman’s second set of memoirs) “Why do you care what other people think?” ... when he had a breakthrough by stopping himself from caring about expectations and just started playing with what interested him. That led to the discovery which led to his Nobel prize.
From it’s wiki: “Of note is the story of his first wife, Arline, who was diagnosed with tuberculosis. She died while Feynman was working on the Manhattan Project; the book's title is taken from a question she often put to him when he seemed preoccupied with his colleagues' opinions about his work, which echoed his earlier words to her.”
Ah ok. The lesson I'm thinking of is in his first memoir, "Surely You're Joking Mr Feynman" in the chapter "The Dignified Professor" where he was feeling quite down because he believes he can't live up to the expectations people have of him.
He makes a breakthrough in his thinking, when he realized that he's not responsible for other people's expectations. That's their mistake not his.
Re: Feynman’s Breakthrough, Disregard Others (2017)
#16This resembles the titular lesson from (Feynman’s second set of memoirs) “Why do you care what other people think?” ... when he had a breakthrough by stopping himself from caring about expectations and just started playing with what interested him. That led to the discovery which led to his Nobel prize.
Eh, Feynman put a lot of effort into caring about what other people thought for his whole life. As Murray Gell-Mann said in his obituary, “He surrounded himself with a cloud of myth, and he spent a great deal of time and energy generating anecdotes about himself.”
Re: Feynman’s Breakthrough, Disregard Others (2017)
#17A directive seemingly at odds with the spirit of social media.
Re: Feynman’s Breakthrough, Disregard Others (2017)
#18This feels like the sort of advice that increases the variance of outcomes more than the mean , if that makes any sense. It'll help some people, but also really won't help others. It's like... You'd need some serious disregard for the rest of the physics community to think you can figure out a reactionless drive. This is great if you actually can, but otherwise it's going to lead you to failure. In a lot of ways, get…
The more experienced I get at programming, the more I find that disregarding others is the correct choice. I have a background and intuition informed by 'common wisdom', but enough confidence to go against it when it seems to make sense without second guessing myself. Well, at least sometimes. I am getting better at it. For a master of his domain like Feynman that affect would surely have been amplified. He can back…
I had opposite development. At first, those who disregarded others looked like geniuses and heroes. Over time, I started to see damage they caused. Well timed doing your thing is indeed good thing, but those who routinely disregard others slow overall speed of the whole team down.
Re: Feynman’s Breakthrough, Disregard Others (2017)
#19Not caring about what other people think is truly freeing. The other important ting to realize is people just don't care most of the time.
> Not caring about what other people think is truly freeing.
1. young people worry about what others think of them
2. middle age people stop caring what others think of them
3. old people realize that nobody is thinking of them
Re: Feynman’s Breakthrough, Disregard Others (2017)
#20This feels like the sort of advice that increases the variance of outcomes more than the mean , if that makes any sense. It'll help some people, but also really won't help others. It's like... You'd need some serious disregard for the rest of the physics community to think you can figure out a reactionless drive. This is great if you actually can, but otherwise it's going to lead you to failure. In a lot of ways, get…
I don't think this was about disregarding everyone around all the time. This was something that helped Feynman to move in that particular situation when he was weighted down by other peoples expectations and what not.
The story is at the point where he is already honored, known and has "outstanding popular touch". That is when he read a book and calls the wife in the middle of the night to say: "I think I’ve figured it out. Now I’ll be able to work again!"
This does not mean that people should disregard others all the time routinely. It means that there are situations where you have to disregard others expectations, advice and what not.