May 23 2008

Feynman: The Inconceivable Nature of Nature

Posted by: Dave in Life

This entry was posted on Friday, May 23rd, 2008 at 8:08 am and is filed under Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

1. Justin says:
   May 23rd, 2008 at 8:27 am

   Richard Feynman was a true giant. He was also kind of an asshole. People are complicated.

2. Justin says:
   May 23rd, 2008 at 8:34 am

   Here’s another side of Feynman. This clip was part of a GREAT Nova documentary about him from 1993. http://youtube.com/watch?v=HKTSaezB4p8

3. Mr. Nibbles says:
   May 23rd, 2008 at 8:36 am

   Whoa…
   Who spike his orange juice with the brown acid?
   Another vid:
   http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8459058620572291798&q=Feynman&ei=K8E2SKysBIGc-AHkr5zfAw

4. Dave says:
   May 23rd, 2008 at 9:18 am

   Really? I hadn’t heard that. I just Googled ‘Feynman asshole’ and didn’t come up with anything.

   I’d better try Google Images…

   

5. Mr. Nibbles says:
   May 23rd, 2008 at 10:08 am

   No results found for “Feynman’s asshole” either.
   Please explain.

6. Dave says:
   May 23rd, 2008 at 10:29 am

   Hmmm. Justin, are you from California? Feynman was a New Yorker, I know. Are you making a generalization?

7. Dave says:
   May 23rd, 2008 at 11:08 am

   I think I’ve got it figured out now, Mr. Nibbles - to wit:

   1) One popular contribution by Feynman is his views on what he terms “Cargo Cult Science”.
   2) A damn interesting site, namely Damn Interesting, makes mention of Feynman’s work and offers embellishment, telling how indigenous people would try to reconcile their traditions with the new Cargo Cult that was undeniably manifest:

   …In New Guinea, one resulting version of Christianity described a god named Anus who delivered cargo of canned meat, steel tools, rice, and matches to Adam and Eve. When they discovered sex, Anus ejected them from Eden and struck them with a flood….

   Therefore, Justin is very cleverly couching an enigma wrapped in a riddle inside a cookie for the Feynman fans, and is calling Feynman a veritable God.

   We were simply doing the wrong search!

8. Justin says:
   May 23rd, 2008 at 11:29 am

   I actually didn’t know about the cargo cult connection with Feynman until I read it in Wikipedia this morning. It’s ironic, though, because I _love_ those cargo cults. They fascinate me.

   Anyway, re: Feynman as an asshole. I don’t mean that he wasn’t one of the greatest minds of the 20th century, and I also don’t mean that he wasn’t a great entertainer and an absolute hoot at parties. I’m sure he was. However, after reading his books (”Surely You’re Joking…” & “Why Do You Care…”) I came away with the same conclusion that I heard from my fellow students & our professors back in my days in Physics: Dr. Feynman was kind of an asshole, on a personal level.

   Not that there’s anything wrong with that. As a matter of fact, when I feel like I’m being an asshole to people, sometimes I think, “Lots of the greatest people in the world are assholes! Like Dr. Feynman!” I remind myself that people are people, heros are heros, and they’re not the same. Everyone is complicated. Feynman is a great example of that.

9. Dave says:
   May 23rd, 2008 at 12:09 pm

   So I was right, then. About the anus thing.

10. Mr. Nibbles says:
    May 23rd, 2008 at 1:03 pm

    I’ll have to read ”Surely You’re Joking…” & “Why Do You Care…” before I can comment.

11. Dave says:
    May 23rd, 2008 at 5:50 pm

    Really? Surely you’re joking. Why do you care?

12. Mr. Nibbles says:
    May 24th, 2008 at 7:26 am

    Clever.

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