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What Problems to Solve (1966)

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Re: What Problems to Solve (1966)

#41

Post by godelski » 

  > No problem is too small or too trivial if we can really do something about it.
I think we often forget this. Especially in our fast paced world and career. But often it is the little things which are hard to get right and also the things that create the most problems.

I think we try to think we can predict what are important problems and what are not. Sometimes this is easy and we're right, but often we aren't. This is true in math, physics, and computer science. In any domain. So do what you like because you never really know. Plus, they say interest is worth an extra 10 IQ points.

From all my reading of Feynman I think there's one thing he'd stress: have fun. To never lose the creativity, that child like wonder. In CS we got here because we loved to play around and hack. I hope we never lose that.

Re: What Problems to Solve (1966)

#42

Post by rixed »

renhanxue wrote: post #36
kunley wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

citation needed

Astrophysicist Angela Collier's video essay "the sham legacy of Richard Feynman" [0] is a good introduction. Her accounts of her own encounters with "Feynman bros" are heart-wrenching. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwKpj2ISQAc

She seems to have missed the real reason why Feynman became so "popular": his series of textbooks. Maybe his name is not associated with such historical discoveries as those of Newton, Boltzmann or Einstein are, but writing one of the best textbook series is also a good reason to be famous, at least for as long as the content will remain relevant. Feynman, to me, is the American Landau: A mathematical and scientific genius whose immensely valuable legacy consists of teaching and textbooks rather than any novel breakthrough in theory.

Apart if you want more clicks on YouTube, I don't think it's fair to call him a sham, unless you believe every popularity is a sham, but I don't think it's the case being made here.

Re: What Problems to Solve (1966)

#43

Post by plausibilitious »

cocoa19 wrote: post #8

This echoes what I have thought about my career. What to work on. I've been blessed to have a good paying career in software engineering, but I've never really felt passionate about the products I work on. At the end of the day, my job is a paycheck. I do feel joy solving problems for others, improve society, be able to answer colleagues questions when they "come to my office". My family is happy that I can provide a…

The most important jobs in the world - teaching, cleaning, caring - are extremely underrated. They are lowly paid, and people automatically assume that those doing these jobs are less than.

Sometimes the most important thing in the world is to be a good person to those around you. That can be in extremely short supply to some people.

Re: What Problems to Solve (1966)

#44

Post by Psoodu1313 »

apples_oranges wrote: post #10
cocoa19 wrote: post #8

This echoes what I have thought about my career. What to work on. I've been blessed to have a good paying career in software engineering, but I've never really felt passionate about the products I work on. At the end of the day, my job is a paycheck. I do feel joy solving problems for others, improve society, be able to answer colleagues questions when they "come to my office". My family is happy that I can provide a…

Perhaps it’s not ambition or drive but just curiosity. „I wonder if we can …“ -type of thinking.

I don't think so personally, because if its truly from a place of curiosity, then you're in the BEST of place. You're enamored with a specific problem, have some idea of doing it and will slowly explore nooks and crannies to manifest it into reality. The problem here (again, i think) lies in the fact that we don't often see the grander value of our everyday works and yearn to do SOMETHING grander, more impactful, but we don't know which, or how, and in time it will torment us each time we do our normal work. (sorry for the text wall)

Re: What Problems to Solve (1966)

#45

Post by renhanxue »

rixed wrote: post #42
renhanxue wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Astrophysicist Angela Collier's video essay "the sham legacy of Richard Feynman" [0] is a good introduction. Her accounts of her own encounters with "Feynman bros" are heart-wrenching. [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwKpj2ISQAc

She seems to have missed the real reason why Feynman became so "popular": his series of textbooks. Maybe his name is not associated with such historical discoveries as those of Newton, Boltzmann or Einstein are, but writing one of the best textbook series is also a good reason to be famous, at least for as long as the content will remain relevant. Feynman, to me, is the American Landau: A mathematical and scientific…

What a baffling comment. Feynman won a Nobel prize for his work on quantum electrodynamics, and yet he's not known for theory work?

Also, Feynman never wrote any books. His "textbooks" are lecture notes, mostly compiled by other people.

Re: What Problems to Solve (1966)

#47

Post by amelius »

> I have worked on innumerable problems that you would call humble, but which I enjoyed and felt very good about because I sometimes could partially succeed. For example, ... [list of many problems] ... Plus all the “grander” problems of quantum theory.

I'm having difficulty understanding what is meant here. Does he intend to say that his student thinks quantum theory is a humble problem?

Re: What Problems to Solve (1966)

#49

Post by dan00 »

Psoodu1313 wrote: post #44
apples_oranges wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Perhaps it’s not ambition or drive but just curiosity. „I wonder if we can …“ -type of thinking.

I don't think so personally, because if its truly from a place of curiosity, then you're in the BEST of place. You're enamored with a specific problem, have some idea of doing it and will slowly explore nooks and crannies to manifest it into reality. The problem here (again, i think) lies in the fact that we don't often see the grander value of our everyday works and yearn to do SOMETHING grander, more impactful, but…

> The problem here (again, i think) lies in the fact that we don't often see the grander value of our everyday works and yearn to do SOMETHING grander, more impactful, but we don't know which, or how, and in time it will torment us each time we do our normal work.

I think it's a kind of yearning that can't be satisfied in the outside world. It's an inside problem and can only be solved there.

Re: What Problems to Solve (1966)

#50

Post by pama »

nashashmi wrote: post #15

> You will get the pleasure of success, and of helping your fellow man, even if it is only to answer a question in the mind of a colleague less able than you. > innumerable problems that you would call humble, but which I enjoyed and felt very good about because I sometimes could partially succeed. > You met me at the peak of my career when I seemed to you to be concerned with problems close to the gods. As problem s…

The best places to work at are full of people that are intrinsically motivated. “Good job” is implied. Feedback, including criticism, is expected, as it helps improve things further or recognise perfection/good enough. Academics do have egos, but typically they compete against academics in other, remote departments, and many of the best ones behave in ego free ways in their groups and collaborations. Same in good industry teams, where having management get out of the way and letting the intrinsically motivated contributors work themselves is key. The competition is the outside world, not the eating of a larger share of the resources of the same team. If you like problem solving, stay humble and help others; you will have a lifetime of fun, even if it feels rocky some bad days.
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