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22 February 2023
Truths and inspirations, 22 February 2023
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9 comments:
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Yep, that last one!
ReplyDeleteThat first one is true. People can have different opinions and still be friends and get along. I don't know what happened that people don't think this anymore.
ReplyDeleteI agree with so many of these.
The quote by Goethe is deep. Just finished a decent science fiction book. Have you read Warbreaker?
ReplyDeleteRicko: I hope that one won't come literally true!
ReplyDeleteMary K: There have been systematic efforts by some very noisy people to demonize anyone who disagrees with whatever party line they themselves support. They want us paranoid and hateful and looking upon anyone with different views as an incomprehensible alien.
Lady M: Goethe was a pretty deep guy. I haven't read Warbreaker, but I'll probably check it out -- you mentioned it in an earlier comment.
What a bore I am! I will shut up about it now.
ReplyDeleteLoved most of these, particularly the first one, Lisa Simpson, Feynman, and Goethe. (Interesting company that Lisa Simpson is keeping with that group!) :)
ReplyDeleteLady M: I never meant to imply that.
ReplyDeleteDarrell: That Lisa Simpson image is used for a wide range of views. I strongly agree with this one.
Feynman is a genius, and more down-to-earth than some popular scientists.
Feynman was a genius... But he seriously "curated" the "just a smart kid from Queens" thing - a lot. The "Feynman Lectures on Physics" (which I have in written and CD form) are not easy. He was not a popular scientist in the sense of being accessible. He is popular in the sense he was a an unbelievable dude who did things with tensors that make me feel uneasy. He was an absolute fucking magician. His actual writings are much less important in terms of popularising science than his sheer force of personality. Feynman made physics sexy. And if you've spent as much time as I have in university physics depts. that is a feat worthy of a Nobel... Or at least a romantic date with a possibility of, like, sex, or something - maybe. Trust me. I have met more theoretical physicists who have won scholarships than ever got to first base.
ReplyDeleteI guess I can sum my view up best with a (fairly) direct quote. When he won his Nobel he was pigeon-holed by a reporter, "Prof Feynman can you you tell me in a coupla minutes what you did to win the prize?". Reply: "Look, buster, if I could do that it wouldn't have been worth the prize!".
His work on the path integral formulation of Quantum Electrodynamics is awesome. It is up there with Newton, Maxwell, Einstein, Hamilton or Boltzmann. And he was cooler than super-fluid liquid Helium (yes, he did great work on that as well) but he certainly didn't write science for mere mortals like us.
A Feynmann comes but once a generation and for that we ought to be thankful - possibly in more ways than one...
I'm not knowledgeable enough about physics to evaluate Feynman's work -- not even close. But he has a way of putting the scientific outlook and view of the world into simple sayings that resonate with non-scientists, and that's very valuable.
ReplyDelete