Feynman: I am burned out and I'll never accomplish anything (1985)
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Feynman: I am burned out and I'll never accomplish anything (1985)
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Re: Feynman: I am burned out and I'll never accomplish anything (1985)
#2Love it, but for more context, when was this? How accomplished was he at that time?
Re: Feynman: I am burned out and I'll never accomplish anything (1985)
#3There is power in the startup/business world also in doing things that aren’t immediately sensible or predictable. Read Rory Sutherland’s ”Alchemy” for learning more.
Re: Feynman: I am burned out and I'll never accomplish anything (1985)
#4Love it, but for more context, when was this? How accomplished was he at that time?
Not an answer to your question, but the meta-context is https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26931021 (probably)
Re: Feynman: I am burned out and I'll never accomplish anything (1985)
#5Love it, but for more context, when was this? How accomplished was he at that time?
1946-7, just after his Manhattan Project work, before his work on quantum electrodynamics.
Re: Feynman: I am burned out and I'll never accomplish anything (1985)
#6"The diagrams and the whole business that I got the Nobel Prize for came from that piddling around with the wobbling plate."
This shows the extreme importance of blue sky thinking and allowing people to follow their whims sometimes rather than not starting something unless it fits into existing research goals and funding. This breakthrough all lead from an observation that had no apparent use beyond fulfilling a whim and to have fun with it.
I try to live my life by the ludic principle of 'playing'. It's honestly been the lifeblood that's fueled me, kept me sane at work and allowed me to do OK in my career. All of my best ideas at work and in things like making music came from this spirit I'm convinced.
Re: Feynman: I am burned out and I'll never accomplish anything (1985)
#7I read (listened to, technically) this book a few weeks ago because I've always been inspired by the idea of Feynman and didn't know much about him. Honestly, I actually like him less after having read it.
As I guess I should have expected, because its subtitle is "Adventures of a Curious Character", it's unfortunately for me filled with many more random personal anecdotes, often involving naked women, prostitutes, gambling, or topless bars. There are some rather more scientific and aspirational anecdotes like the one linked here, and certainly it's beneficial to learn about a man as a whole and not deify him as a scientific god. However I cracked it open hoping to read about nothing but neat ideas he had and what drove him, not read about some rather shameless guy's strange happenings.
I guess I wouldn't say I recommend against reading it, but I wouldn't get your hopes up before doing so like I did.
Re: Feynman: I am burned out and I'll never accomplish anything (1985)
#8There is power in the startup/business world also in doing things that aren’t immediately sensible or predictable. Read Rory Sutherland’s ”Alchemy” for learning more.
True perhaps but if you're doing it because there is "power" in it, that paradoxically defeats the object.
Re: Feynman: I am burned out and I'll never accomplish anything (1985)
#9[deleted]
Re: Feynman: I am burned out and I'll never accomplish anything (1985)
#10There is power in the startup/business world also in doing things that aren’t immediately sensible or predictable. Read Rory Sutherland’s ”Alchemy” for learning more.
True perhaps but if you're doing it because there is "power" in it, that paradoxically defeats the object.
Consider it rather an excuse to have fun, and a feasible explanation if you have to explain yourself to anyone (boss, investors)