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Do not remain nameless to yourself (1966)

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Re: Do not remain nameless to yourself (1966)

#71

Post by ChrisMarshallNY »

beckingz wrote: post #70
ChrisMarshallNY wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Problems can be quite humbling. Taking on big stuff isn't necessarily a "big ego" thing, but getting upset that we didn't solve the problem might be. In my experience, big problems get solved by teams. It's important to be a good team member, even if we are "close to the gods." From what I understand, Feynman seemed to work well in teams, but I never worked with him, so I don't know. False humility isn't helpful eith…

That is a powerful quote. Apparently the author (Marianne Williamson, not Mandela) was flabbergasted and honored that her words were being attributed to Mandela. [0] 0 https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/our-deepest-fear/

Ah. Thanks for the correction. I will note that.

Yeah, that's why I said "I think."

LOTS of misattributed quotes out there.

My fave is "Don't believe everything you read on the Internet." -Abraham Lincoln.

UPDATED TO ADD:

I preface my Medium posts[0] with quotes, and those, I tend to research a bit more exhaustively. One of my entries[1] is prefaced by the quote "A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for."

The quote is by John A. Shedd[2], but is often attributed to Grace Hopper, who used it one of her speeches.

[0] https://medium.com/chrismarshallny

[1] https://medium.com/chrismarshallny/thats-not-what-ships-are-...

[2] https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/John_Augustus_Shedd

Re: Do not remain nameless to yourself (1966)

#72

Post by bjornsing »

Noos wrote: post #65
Aeolun wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In most cases he probably was the smartest person in the room. If he managed to stay lighthearted and friendly while making fun of others he’s doing a better job than me, because I’ve lost much of my patience for stupidity.

he doesn't really have any right to make fun of others, though. Smart people forget that they require a tremendous amount of resources and support to make best use of their intelligence. A director may be a brilliant movie maker, but he needs a whole film company to realize his visions. A lot of smart people berate others for their stupidity while relying on them for production power and resources to realize their vi…

We smart people can always hire other serfs. ;)

No, sorry. I agree everybody deserves to be treated with respect, but in my experience many people who talk the talk you talk do not walk the walk at all: if they get a chance to crush somebody smarter or more able than themselves many have no limits whatsoever (except avoiding practical consequences to themselves)...

The thing with people like Feynman who are driven by curiosity is that they are not always “super nice”, but they get no joy out of ridiculing or humiliating other people, the way a lot of “small people” do, unfortunately. I’d much prefer being teased by Feynman than being verbally abused by some of the power and money hungry mediocre people I’ve come across.

Re: Do not remain nameless to yourself (1966)

#73

Post by Zenbit_UX »

erulabs wrote: post #2

Great read. I've always loved Feynman - but the word "ego" might apply. "I was working on problems close to the gods", and his list of solved (and to be fair, unsolved) investigations remind me of his "Surely you're joking, Mr. Feynman". Clearly the most brilliant man, and also clearly with a healthy regard for himself. One has to look out at the world and, taking in the successful and unsuccessful, conclude that som…

It's a shame that your reading comprehension is so low that you've convinced hundreds of other readers here that Feynman was egotistical and other engineers should follow. You've butchered his quote and misrepresented him to an incredible degree.

Re-read his letter, specifically the quote about problems close to the gods, the word 'seemed' is present and shifts the tone dramatically into humble.

Re: Do not remain nameless to yourself (1966)

#74

Post by LordHumungous »

tropdrop wrote: post #36
erulabs wrote: post #2

Great read. I've always loved Feynman - but the word "ego" might apply. "I was working on problems close to the gods", and his list of solved (and to be fair, unsolved) investigations remind me of his "Surely you're joking, Mr. Feynman". Clearly the most brilliant man, and also clearly with a healthy regard for himself. One has to look out at the world and, taking in the successful and unsuccessful, conclude that som…

Too few engineers eschew ego - this is Feynman's point. Most people are not Feynman. Most engineers today think they have the capability of being Feynman one day - of course, statistics dictates that most will not be. This is why Feynman's advice is powerful - The worthwhile problems are the ones you can really solve or help solve, the ones you can really contribute something to. Feynman here is instructing someone w…

I had a physics professor who liked to point out that Feynman (who we all idolized as college students studying physics) used to solve hundreds and hundreds of classical mechanics problems for fun, in his spare time. These were the same homework problems that we hated doing and always complained about.

The professor's point was, being great at something isn't just a matter of having a big powerful brain, it's also a result of putting in the work, and that work is not glamorous. A lot of people want to go straight to the big, fun, "important" problems, the big job titles and pay checks, while skipping all the toil that gets you to that level.

Re: Do not remain nameless to yourself (1966)

#75

Post by mysterypie »

I’d like to know what the modern substitute is for long personal letters like Feynman’s? It’s not just Feynman; look at this list from the featured website:

> written correspondence includes letters from: Jane Austen, Richard Burton, Helen Keller, Alan Turing, Albus Dumbledore, Eleanor Roosevelt, Henry James, Sylvia Plath, John Lennon, Gerald Durrell, Janis Joplin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Hunter S. Thompson, C. G. Jung, Katherine Mansfield, Marge Simpson, David Bowie, Dorothy Parker, Buckminster Fuller, Beatrix Potter, Che Guevara, Evelyn Waugh, Charlotte Brontë.

These are some important and busy people. Yet they wrote long personal letters. Whenever I write a long personal letter (by email), the most I get back is 3 or 4 sentences. And forget about having a real discussion by IM or WhatsApp — the replies are two-word sound bites. As far as I can tell, the only place real personal discussion takes place now is in person. Kind of ironic that we have far greater communication power than any of those letter writers did. I’m wondering if my experience is an outlier or if this is pretty much what everyone experiences today?

Re: Do not remain nameless to yourself (1966)

#76

Post by sunsetSamurai »

mysterypie wrote: post #75

I’d like to know what the modern substitute is for long personal letters like Feynman’s? It’s not just Feynman; look at this list from the featured website: > written correspondence includes letters from: Jane Austen, Richard Burton, Helen Keller, Alan Turing, Albus Dumbledore, Eleanor Roosevelt, Henry James, Sylvia Plath, John Lennon, Gerald Durrell, Janis Joplin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Hunter S. Thompson, C. G. J…

Albus Dumbledore?!

Re: Do not remain nameless to yourself (1966)

#77

Post by mysterypie »

sunsetSamurai wrote: post #76
mysterypie wrote: post #75

I’d like to know what the modern substitute is for long personal letters like Feynman’s? It’s not just Feynman; look at this list from the featured website: > written correspondence includes letters from: Jane Austen, Richard Burton, Helen Keller, Alan Turing, Albus Dumbledore, Eleanor Roosevelt, Henry James, Sylvia Plath, John Lennon, Gerald Durrell, Janis Joplin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Hunter S. Thompson, C. G. J…

Albus Dumbledore?!

Yeah, Marge Simpson too. It probably refers to a letter that the character wrote. But ignore those. Most of the list are real people.

Re: Do not remain nameless to yourself (1966)

#78

Post by rattray »

krastanov wrote: post #4
mkolodny wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"You met me at the peak of my career when I seemed to you to be concerned with problems close to the gods." It sounds like Feynman remembered that his student thought highly of the problems he was working on late into his career. Feynman's encouraging his former student, as a recent graduate, to start out with low-hanging fruit. He goes on to describe some of the easier problems that he worked on in the beginning of…

Feynman, like everyone, has his virtues and vices, but humility is definitely not among his strong points. The majority of the stories he tells about himself are anecdotes in which he is the smart person in the room making (maybe lighthearted and friendly) fun of others with a cheaply superficial pretence of humility.

I just finished reading _Surely you're joking, Mr. Feynman!_ and I agree - the word that described most of his stories to me was "boastful". Most of his stories involve him being more clever than everyone else around him, rather pointedly.

However, whenever he talks about getting recruited or being tasked with something important, he always claimed to be astonished that anyone thought "little Feynman" worthy of such a high task. I take him at his word that this was his reaction.

I'm not sure what to make of this.

I'll add that though his bragging felt a little distasteful to me, I greatly enjoyed the tales and deeply appreciated his honesty and forthrightness about his life (including aspects I find less savory, like womanizing).

I'd absolutely recommend the book, but perhaps try _The Feynman Tapes_ on audiobook if possible because they're the recordings of his own speech that was written down and became the book.

Re: Do not remain nameless to yourself (1966)

#79

Post by lytedev »

mysterypie wrote: post #75

I’d like to know what the modern substitute is for long personal letters like Feynman’s? It’s not just Feynman; look at this list from the featured website: > written correspondence includes letters from: Jane Austen, Richard Burton, Helen Keller, Alan Turing, Albus Dumbledore, Eleanor Roosevelt, Henry James, Sylvia Plath, John Lennon, Gerald Durrell, Janis Joplin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Hunter S. Thompson, C. G. J…

Perhaps blog posts?

Re: Do not remain nameless to yourself (1966)

#80

Post by MKinley »

mysterypie wrote: post #75

I’d like to know what the modern substitute is for long personal letters like Feynman’s? It’s not just Feynman; look at this list from the featured website: > written correspondence includes letters from: Jane Austen, Richard Burton, Helen Keller, Alan Turing, Albus Dumbledore, Eleanor Roosevelt, Henry James, Sylvia Plath, John Lennon, Gerald Durrell, Janis Joplin, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Hunter S. Thompson, C. G. J…

> I’m wondering if my experience is an outlier or if this is pretty much what everyone experiences today?

I experience very much the same issues. While I do occasionally have great conversations over IM with select few people, most are similar to what you describe, write a long letter and only receive a few sentences or less. I myself though do still prefer in person conversation, too much inflection, tones and meaning is lost in text based conversation, it is even taken the wrong way a lot as a result.

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