The Pleasure of Finding Things Out
By ET
I can categorize people I know into 4 groups. Well, at least theoretically, because I can’t really find an example in the (stupid,mean) domain.
Richard Feynman, among many other people who I respect belongs to the first quadrant of (smart,nice). A good example of (smart,mean) is probably Lu Xun or an assistant professor I met at Wharton (he subsequently left Wharton and went to Europe). I’ve been listening to two of his audiobooks “Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman”, and “What Do You Care What Other People Think”, and I feel very intellectually stimulated by his view of the world.
On my ipod, I have all sorts of audiobooks from Kung Fu novels by Jin Yong to bestsellers like “The World is Flat”, “The Devil Wears Prada” to non-fictions like one explaining E=MC^2, and a few of Stephen Hawking’s books on the universe. None of the these books can keep me awake at night. When I listen to Feynman’s audiobook, sometimes I get too excited to fall in sleep. For example, he described how he studied the process of people falling into sleep and how to examine the dreams. When I was young, I did almost exactly the same thing, and had some interesting findings such as “I can see color in dreams”, “I can control my motion consciously in my dreams”, and “I can create the situation in dream to explain the external sound I hear while I’m sleeping”.
The curiosity of finding how things work can be immensely rewarding. In the following video, Feynman explains how he appreciates the beauty of a flower. It’s amazing.
March 17th, 2008 at 1:52 pm
I agree with Yuting that “having affairs” and “being nice” are indeed two orthogonal issues.
The former is a moral one between a married couple. The later is simply the way how an individual treats others.
If Feynman did not have affairs, then visitor’s comment would be “slanderous and highly offensive,” if he did, that does not mean he’s not a nice person.
I’m surprised how the comments are evolving around this topic for so long. My initial idea was to show that Feynman was such an amazing individual whose curiosity lead him to become a great scientist and an adorable popular figure. I couldn’t help watching the video for many times just to appreciate his manner and enjoy great utility in (re)evaluating the world through his lens.
March 15th, 2008 at 11:35 pm
hmm…i’ve tracked this article for a while and just can’t help saying sth.
i am just wondering why people having affairs are NOT nice? i don’t see any negative words in the article ‘getting physical’. on the other hand, the author quoted that “Creative people are often considered to be very attractive and get lots of attention as a result.”
Remember they’re the greatest and smartest guys in the world. Their status, achievements, wisdom, etc make them so charming that many people want to have relationship with them. it’s quite understandable if they cannot resist those temptations.
i certainly appreciate long-term relationship within a couple. But people changed, even forced to change, in today’s dynamic world. Those who can happily live with a long-term partner are really lucky guys.
Beisides, there is always a group of people who don’t have affairs but want to. they may already betray their partners in mind but don’t tell them. don’t you think they’re even worse than those who have affairs?
well, in terms of their wives, it’s another ethical issue. again, i don’t mean to promote ‘affairs’. i just think people should think differently when facing special cases, e.g.world-class scientists.
p.s. i don’t mean to offend anybody. i’m a young girl and don’t have much life experience. if you think i’m really wrong or my thoughts are too naive, you’re welcomed to correct/educate me.
March 14th, 2008 at 6:16 pm
I clearly remember reading one article about the affairs of great physicists. Turned out it was not from WIRED, but a pop-science magazine SEED.
Here is a link to that article.
http://www.seedmagazine.com/news/2006/03/getting_physical.php?page=all&p=y
Unfortunately, Prof. Feynman’s name is there. The article says he dated some porn star. I do not want to say this is supporting evidence that “visitor” was right. But this obviously is an orthogonal problem to my (nice,smart) discussion.
The author of the article, a Mr. Joshua Roebke wrote another piece about Prof. Feynman. It’s a neutral one about the challenger investigation.
March 9th, 2008 at 10:35 pm
I agree with Mr. Michael A. Gottlieb that “visitor” should provide the source of the claim. I’m glad that someone actually knew Prof. Feynman can stand out to fight for his reputation (and in this particular case, his honor).
Please respond, “visitor”.
If I do not see your response in one week, I’ll be modifying the post and put a mark on the upper-right corner of the (smart,nice) space, and explain why I change the post.
March 9th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
As a friend and co-author of Richard Feynman’s, I request that “visitor” name the source of the misinformation s/he claims to have “learned,” that Feynman had “numourous affairs” while his wife was dying of TB. Failing to provide a verifiable source, I request the owner of this blog to remove “visitor’s” slanderous and highly offensive comment. As for “visitor’s” opinion that “Feynman is not nice,” I ask: How the hell would _you_ know? In fact Feynman was a very nice guy, though he could at times be rather caustic to arrogant fools and liars.
March 9th, 2008 at 9:02 am
hmm. I remember reading an article on Wired that gives many examples of these world-class scientists (including Einstein) having various affairs and kinky behaviors.
Maybe someone can write a book to show the other side of these great minds.
March 8th, 2008 at 10:42 am
i was touched by his relationship with his first wife at first too
until i learned that he had numourous affairs during her entire stay in the hospital..
he is certainly a smart guy…nice? different sources say different things…but i do agree there are plenty of smart and nice guys out there…just to my opinion, feymann is not one of them…
March 7th, 2008 at 5:23 pm
I don’t have personal relationship with him — he had died even before I started to speak English. From what I hear in the audiobook, he seemed to be a nice person. For example, the story between him and his first wife (Arline, who died of Tuberculosis) is very touching. He described some personal relationships between him and some people involved in the investigation of the challenger disaster. Judging from the people he liked, I guess I would like him, too.
Ah, also, there is a biography called “Feynman’s Rainbow” written by one of his students (Leonard Mlodinow), who later became a big-shot writer (Coauthor with Stephen Hawking for “a brief history of time”; also cowritten some episodes of “Star Trek”).
I admit I took it for granted that he’s a nice person. But who knows, I don’t care, I’d take him as a nice guy and the world simply looks better in my eyes. hehe.
March 7th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
ft
feymann is not nice