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No Other Love: Letters from Richard Feynman to His Late Wife, Arline

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Re: No Other Love: Letters from Richard Feynman to His Late Wife, Arline

#41

Post by saagarjha »

bobthepanda wrote: post #34
throwawaycities wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They can certainly help us understand those people better. What exactly do you think you would learn about Feynman that is so important you feel your right to his personal correspondence to his wife outweighs his privacy (even from the grave). It’s not a new or novel debate, one of the more famous discussions on the topic would be the publication of the diary of Anne Frank. Unlike Feynman she wasn’t a historical fi…

Honestly, the best people to make that kind of judgement would be the person's personal relatives. It seems like Feynman's estate is selling the objects, it's not like someone robbed his grave.

One of the problems here is that the Feynman estate has a significant conflict of interest when making this decision: namely, they get money from it.

Re: No Other Love: Letters from Richard Feynman to His Late Wife, Arline

#42

Post by stickfigure »

kodah wrote: post #36
stickfigure wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're dead, they're beyond caring. Honestly this "sanctity of the dead" concept is a bit antiquated. Cremate the bodies, recycle the physical goods, move on.

I think it's less sanctity of the dead and more consent on what is allowed to be published. It's a fair argument. If I stumble across someone's messages to their ex-girlfriend who is now well-renowned in my circles, am I allowed to publish them? If they're dead does it really impact the ethics?

> If they're dead does it really impact the ethics?

Yes? I feel pretty comfortable saying that the live/dead status of the author (and subjects) is one of many factors that affects the ethics involved in publishing something like that. That seems to be the question of this thread, no?

Re: No Other Love: Letters from Richard Feynman to His Late Wife, Arline

#43

Post by tcgv »

bobthepanda wrote: post #34
throwawaycities wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They can certainly help us understand those people better. What exactly do you think you would learn about Feynman that is so important you feel your right to his personal correspondence to his wife outweighs his privacy (even from the grave). It’s not a new or novel debate, one of the more famous discussions on the topic would be the publication of the diary of Anne Frank. Unlike Feynman she wasn’t a historical fi…

Honestly, the best people to make that kind of judgement would be the person's personal relatives. It seems like Feynman's estate is selling the objects, it's not like someone robbed his grave.

> the best people to make that kind of judgement would be the person's personal relatives

To expand on that the best person to make this kind of judgement would be Feynman himself.

But then I'm not sure if had he ever made a claim on whether he would allow these letters to become public / be sold, if such a claim would have any legal value to be enforced after his death.

In the end we are left with his personal relatives, and what the law regulates regarding their rights to share Feynman private letters posthumously.

Re: No Other Love: Letters from Richard Feynman to His Late Wife, Arline

#44

Post by inglor_cz »

gautamcgoel wrote: post #3

There is something indescribably vulgar about auctioning off a letter a man wrote to his dead wife. I am quite sure that when Feynman penned that letter he had no idea it would eventually be sold by strangers for profit.

I wouldn't be as harsh. We do not really know the entire picture and we are too often primed for outrage nowadays.

Perhaps the heirs ran into some serious trouble that can be alleviated with money. If a kid needs an expensive operation or a paralyzed person a better wheelchair, may the letters of the dead help them.

Re: No Other Love: Letters from Richard Feynman to His Late Wife, Arline

#45

Post by redis_mlc »

rurban wrote: post #22

Not his late wife, his first wife, who died early. With his 2nd he took a miss. She was a right-wing radical McCarthyan who denounced him to the FBI as possible Russian spy. His third and late wife was finally ok then.

No post body was provided.

Re: No Other Love: Letters from Richard Feynman to His Late Wife, Arline

#46

Post by mattigames »

stickfigure wrote: post #42
kodah wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's less sanctity of the dead and more consent on what is allowed to be published. It's a fair argument. If I stumble across someone's messages to their ex-girlfriend who is now well-renowned in my circles, am I allowed to publish them? If they're dead does it really impact the ethics?

> If they're dead does it really impact the ethics? Yes? I feel pretty comfortable saying that the live/dead status of the author (and subjects) is one of many factors that affects the ethics involved in publishing something like that. That seems to be the question of this thread, no?

Yet you evade the most obvious question of how would the children (and grandchildren) of the dead would feel about such usage of their remains, may it be a letter or a 4K private sex tape.

Re: No Other Love: Letters from Richard Feynman to His Late Wife, Arline

#47

Post by stickfigure »

mattigames wrote: post #46
stickfigure wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If they're dead does it really impact the ethics? Yes? I feel pretty comfortable saying that the live/dead status of the author (and subjects) is one of many factors that affects the ethics involved in publishing something like that. That seems to be the question of this thread, no?

Yet you evade the most obvious question of how would the children (and grandchildren) of the dead would feel about such usage of their remains, may it be a letter or a 4K private sex tape.

Eh? If my grandmother's sex "tapes" (we're probably talking 16mm film) are circulating, good for her! I sincerely hope she had a more excitement in her life than simply raising kids in the depression. I would be proud.

How would my child feel about videos of me and/or his mother? I'm pretty sure just as squicked as any kid will be about the idea of their parents having sex. Which they all know we do. You pretend otherwise to your kids?

Re: No Other Love: Letters from Richard Feynman to His Late Wife, Arline

#48

Post by ctchocula »

rurban wrote: post #22

Not his late wife, his first wife, who died early. With his 2nd he took a miss. She was a right-wing radical McCarthyan who denounced him to the FBI as possible Russian spy. His third and late wife was finally ok then.

Small nitpick. "Late" in this context refers to the fact that she died shortly after Richard sent the letter (definition 2a in [1]) as opposed to a wife he married "late" in his life.

[1] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/late

Re: No Other Love: Letters from Richard Feynman to His Late Wife, Arline

#49

Post by Buttons840 »

gautamcgoel wrote: post #3

There is something indescribably vulgar about auctioning off a letter a man wrote to his dead wife. I am quite sure that when Feynman penned that letter he had no idea it would eventually be sold by strangers for profit.

If it makes you feel any better the government was reading his letters, and both parties knew their letters were being read.

Not applicable to your complaint in general though.

Re: No Other Love: Letters from Richard Feynman to His Late Wife, Arline

#50

Post by kodah »

stickfigure wrote: post #47
mattigames wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yet you evade the most obvious question of how would the children (and grandchildren) of the dead would feel about such usage of their remains, may it be a letter or a 4K private sex tape.

Eh? If my grandmother's sex "tapes" (we're probably talking 16mm film) are circulating, good for her! I sincerely hope she had a more excitement in her life than simply raising kids in the depression. I would be proud. How would my child feel about videos of me and/or his mother? I'm pretty sure just as squicked as any kid will be about the idea of their parents having sex. Which they all know we do. You pretend othe…

The question is, is someone allowed to make that choice for you, ever? I think not, and it's still a question much in debate, which we have made an excellent demonstration of here.
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