Richard Feynman

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I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.

"You gotta stop and think about it to really get the pleasure about the complexity, the inconceivable nature of nature." - Richard Feynman

Although we humans cut nature up in different ways, and We have different courses in different departments, such compartmentalization is really artificial, and We should take our intellectual pleasures where we find them.

"I think with science, one of the things that makes it very difficult is that It takes a lot of imagination." - Richard Feynman • Please retweet this tweet if you'd like to see more videos like this in the future. 🙏

So while I was a professor, I could act very much like a student, even a freshman. I could be mistaken for a freshman in a perfectly legitimate way.

So I moved around a little bit at the beginning, and ended up with the physics.

So I changed to electrical engineering, because there was something that was real. But then some few months later, I realized I’d gone too far, and that somewhere in between — that physics was the right place.

The physical world was real, and the mathematics, I had become enthralled with, but not for itself, really — you know what I mean? It was fascinating, but my real heart was somewhere else. So I decided, I have to get my hands dirty, I can’t stand these abstract things.

Source : Feynman's letter to Koichi Mano, a former graduate student who was upset about remaining "nameless" in the scientific community.

Know your place in the world and evaluate yourself fairly, Not in terms of your naïve ideals of your own youth, Nor in terms of what you erroneously imagine your teacher’s ideals are.

@ProfFeynman “I'm smart enough to know that I'm dumb.” - Richard Feynman

"Only a few know, how much one must know to know how little one knows." -- Werner Heisenberg (1901 - 1976)

Richard Feynman on future of scientific discovery

@george__mack "The first principle is that you must not fool yourself — and you are the easiest person to fool." - Richard Feynman

The most useful razors and rules I've found: 1. Bragging Razor - If someone brags about their success or happiness, assume it’s half what they claim If someone downplays their success or happiness, assume it’s double what they claim 2. High Agency Razor - If unsure who to work with, pick the person that has the best chances of breaking you out of a 3rd world prison. 3. The Early-Late Razor - If it's a talking point on Reddit, you might be early. If it's a talking point on LinkedIn, you're definitely late. 4. Luck Razor - If stuck with 2 equal options, pick the one that feels like it will produce the most luck later down the line. I used this razor to go for drinks with a stranger rather than watch Netflix. In hindsight, it was the highest ROI decision I've ever made. 5. Buffett's Law - "The value of every business is 100% subject to government interest rates" - Warren Buffett 6. The 6-Figure Razor - If someone brags about "6 figures" -- assume it's closer to $100K than $900K. 7. Parent Rule - Break down the investments your parents made in you: Time, Love, Energy, and Money. If they are still alive, aim to hit a positive ROI (or at least break even.) 8. Instagram Razor - When you see a photo of an influencer looking attractive on Instagram -- assume there are 99 worse variations of that photo you haven't seen. They just picked the best one. 9. Narcissism Razor - If worried about people's opinions, remember they are too busy worrying about other people's opinions of them. 99% of the time you're an extra in someone else's movie 10. Everyday Razor - If you go from doing a task weekly to daily, you achieve 7 years of output in 1 year. If you apply a 1% compound interest each time, you achieve 54 years of output in 1 year. 11. Bezos Razor - If unsure what action to pick, let your 90-year-old self on death bed choose it. 12. Creativity Razor - If struggling to think creatively about a subject, transform it: • Turn a thought into a written idea. • A written idea into a drawing. • A drawing into an equation. • An equation into a conversation. In the process of transforming it, you begin to spot new creative connections. 13. The Roman Empire Rule - Historians now recognize the Roman Empire fell in 476 - but it wasn't acknowledged by Roman society until many generations later. If you wait for the media to inform you, you'll either be wrong or too late. 14. Physics Razor - If it doesn't deny the law of physics, then assume it's possible. Do not confuse society's current lack of knowledge -- with this knowledge being impossible to attain. E.g. The smartphone seems impossible to someone from the 1800s -- but it was possible, they just had a lack of knowledge. 15. Skinner's Law - If procrastinating, you have 2 ways to solve it: • Make the pain of inaction > Pain of action • Make the pleasure of action > Pleasure of inaction 16. Network Razor - If you have 2 quality people that would benefit from an intro to one another, always do it. Networks don't divide as you share them, they multiply. 17. Gell-Mann Razor - Assume every media article contains a % of false information. Sandbox the article from your worldview until you've: • Seen primary sources • Spoken to 3 domain experts 18. Taleb's Surgeon - If presented with two equal candidates for a role, pick the one with the least amount of charisma. The uncharismatic one has got there despite their lack of charisma. The charismatic one has got there with the aid of their charisma.

How a scientist can want a mystic answer, I don’t know.

If you expect science to give you all the answers to the wonderful questions about what we are, where we are going, and what the meaning of the universe is,then I think you could easily become disillusioned and look for a mystic answer to these problems.

@PhysInHistory “It is probably better to realize that the probability concept is in a sense subjective, that It is always based on uncertain knowledge, and that Its quantitative evaluation is subject to change as we obtain more information.” - Richard Feynman

Edward Witten is a renowned mathematical physicist who has made many groundbreaking discoveries in the fields of string theory, quantum gravity, supersymmetry, and quantum field theory. He proved the positive energy theorem in general relativity, which states that the total energy of an isolated system of gravitating matter is always non-negative. This theorem implies that gravitational collapse cannot produce negative mass objects or wormholes. He introduced the concept of M-theory, which is a unified framework that encompasses all the different versions of superstring theory and 11-dimensional supergravity. M-theory is considered the most promising candidate for a theory of quantum gravity that can reconcile general relativity and quantum mechanics. He formulated the Witten conjecture, which relates the Jones polynomial of a knot to the partition function of a topological quantum field theory. This conjecture was later proved by Maxim Kontsevich using a technique called perturbative Chern-Simons theory.

I never pay attention to anything by "experts". I calculate everything myself.

@PhysInHistory “Scientific progress to discovering new things often results by noticing small deviations from the predictions of old theories, This cannot be done unless the predictions are very precise and detailed.” - Richard Feynman

If you had the resources to invent a new piece of technology, what would you invent? ✍️

Feynman on Nobel Prize in Physics (1965) --> The Pleasure of Finding Things Out [A BBC Documentary]

@ProfFeynman Books Recommendation for people new to Richard Feynman: 1. The Character of Physical Law 2. The Feynman Lectures in Physics 3. Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! 4. The Pleasure Of Finding Things Out 5. What Do You Care What Other People Think?

• Study hard. • What others think of you is none of your business. • It's OK not to have all the answers. • Experiment, Fail, Learn and Repeat. • Knowledge comes from experience. • Imagination is important. • Do what interests you the most. • Stay curious