Challenge #25: Feynman Quotes
Oct. 28th, 2006 08:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spikedluv posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
numb3rsflashficOur next challenge is: Feynman Quotes.
In honor of the show’s love for, and liberal use of, Richard Feynman, I have collected several of his quotes and listed them below. Pick any one (or more *g*), and use it for inspiration. Go ahead and twist the quote however you want. It’s up to you. And if you know of a quote I haven’t included, go ahead and use it. Just include the chosen quote in your header so we know what you used for inspiration. *g*
You have two weeks to write your fic and post them here. We will close the challenge on Saturday, November 11th.
Remember, fic may only be posted here during the challenge period. Once the challenge is closed you may post it elsewhere. (If at any time you need to refresh your memory about them: Rules.)
Have fun!
Feel free to suggest future challenges in the comments to this post.
Quotes:
Definition
We cannot define anything precisely! If we attempt to, we get into that paralysis of thought that comes to philosophers, who sit opposite each other, one saying to the other, 'You don't know what you are talking about!' The second one says 'What do you mean by know? What do you mean by talking? What do you mean by you?', and so on.
Discoveries, Skepticism
There is no harm in doubt and skepticism, for it is through these that new discoveries are made.
Economics
There are 10^11 stars in the galaxy. That used to be a huge number. But it's only a hundred billion. It's less than the national deficit! We used to call them astronomical numbers. Now we should call them economical numbers.
Government
The real question of government versus private enterprise is argued on too philosophical and abstract a basis. Theoretically, planning may be good. But nobody has ever figured out the cause of government stupidity and until they do (and find the cure) all ideal plans will fall into quicksand.
Imagination
Our imagination is stretched to the utmost, not, as in fiction, to imagine things which are not really there, but just to comprehend those things which 'are' there.
Knowledge
You can know the name of a bird in all the languages of the world, but when you're finished, you'll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird... So let's look at the bird and see what it's doing -- that's what counts. I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.
I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there.
It's because somebody knows something about it that we can't talk about physics. It's the things that nobody knows anything about we can discuss.
Nature
Nature has a great simplicity and therefore a great beauty.
Philosophy, Science
Philosophers say a great deal about what is absolutely necessary for science, and it is always, so far as one can see, rather naive, and probably wrong.
A philosopher once said 'It is necessary for the very existence of science that the same conditions always produce the same results'. Well, they do not. You set up the circumstances, with the same conditions every time, and you cannot predict behind which hole you will see the electron.
Physicists
Physicists like to think that all you have to do is say, these are the conditions, now what happens next?
Physicists always have a habit of taking the simplest example of any phenomenon and calling it "physics," leaving the more complicated examples to become the concern of other fields...
Physics, Sex
Physics is to math what sex is to masturbation.
Physics is like sex: sure, it may give some practical results, but that's not why we do it.
Problems
We are at the very beginning of time for the human race. It is not unreasonable that we grapple with problems. But there are tens of thousands of years in the future. Our responsibility is to do what we can, learn what we can, improve the solutions, and pass them on.
No problem is too small or too trivial if we can really do something about it.
The worthwhile problems are the ones you can really solve or help solve, the ones you can really contribute something to. ~CalTech Commencement address 1974
Pseudo-Science
...there is one feature I notice that is generally missing in 'cargo cult science'... It's a kind of scientific integrity, a principle of scientific thought that corresponds to a kind of utter honesty -- a kind of leaning over backwards... For example, if you're doing an experiment, you should report everything that you think might make it invalid--not only what you think is right about it... Details that could throw doubt on your interpretation must be given, if you know them.
Reality, Technology
For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled.
Science
I believe that a scientist looking at nonscientific problems is just as dumb as the next guy.
Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts.
Truth
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool.
...far more marvelous is the truth than any artists of the past imagined it. Why do the poets of the present not speak of it? What men are poets who can speak of Jupiter if he were a man, but if he is an immense spinning sphere of methane and ammonia must be silent?
Uncertainty
I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it is much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers that might be wrong.
If we will only allow that, as we progress, we remain unsure, we will leave opportunities for alternatives. We will not become enthusiastic for the fact, the knowledge, the absolute truth of the day, but remain always uncertain... In order to make progress, one must leave the door to the unknown ajar.
In honor of the show’s love for, and liberal use of, Richard Feynman, I have collected several of his quotes and listed them below. Pick any one (or more *g*), and use it for inspiration. Go ahead and twist the quote however you want. It’s up to you. And if you know of a quote I haven’t included, go ahead and use it. Just include the chosen quote in your header so we know what you used for inspiration. *g*
You have two weeks to write your fic and post them here. We will close the challenge on Saturday, November 11th.
Remember, fic may only be posted here during the challenge period. Once the challenge is closed you may post it elsewhere. (If at any time you need to refresh your memory about them: Rules.)
Have fun!
Feel free to suggest future challenges in the comments to this post.
Quotes:
Definition
We cannot define anything precisely! If we attempt to, we get into that paralysis of thought that comes to philosophers, who sit opposite each other, one saying to the other, 'You don't know what you are talking about!' The second one says 'What do you mean by know? What do you mean by talking? What do you mean by you?', and so on.
Discoveries, Skepticism
There is no harm in doubt and skepticism, for it is through these that new discoveries are made.
Economics
There are 10^11 stars in the galaxy. That used to be a huge number. But it's only a hundred billion. It's less than the national deficit! We used to call them astronomical numbers. Now we should call them economical numbers.
Government
The real question of government versus private enterprise is argued on too philosophical and abstract a basis. Theoretically, planning may be good. But nobody has ever figured out the cause of government stupidity and until they do (and find the cure) all ideal plans will fall into quicksand.
Imagination
Our imagination is stretched to the utmost, not, as in fiction, to imagine things which are not really there, but just to comprehend those things which 'are' there.
Knowledge
You can know the name of a bird in all the languages of the world, but when you're finished, you'll know absolutely nothing whatever about the bird... So let's look at the bird and see what it's doing -- that's what counts. I learned very early the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing something.
I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there.
It's because somebody knows something about it that we can't talk about physics. It's the things that nobody knows anything about we can discuss.
Nature
Nature has a great simplicity and therefore a great beauty.
Philosophy, Science
Philosophers say a great deal about what is absolutely necessary for science, and it is always, so far as one can see, rather naive, and probably wrong.
A philosopher once said 'It is necessary for the very existence of science that the same conditions always produce the same results'. Well, they do not. You set up the circumstances, with the same conditions every time, and you cannot predict behind which hole you will see the electron.
Physicists
Physicists like to think that all you have to do is say, these are the conditions, now what happens next?
Physicists always have a habit of taking the simplest example of any phenomenon and calling it "physics," leaving the more complicated examples to become the concern of other fields...
Physics, Sex
Physics is to math what sex is to masturbation.
Physics is like sex: sure, it may give some practical results, but that's not why we do it.
Problems
We are at the very beginning of time for the human race. It is not unreasonable that we grapple with problems. But there are tens of thousands of years in the future. Our responsibility is to do what we can, learn what we can, improve the solutions, and pass them on.
No problem is too small or too trivial if we can really do something about it.
The worthwhile problems are the ones you can really solve or help solve, the ones you can really contribute something to. ~CalTech Commencement address 1974
Pseudo-Science
...there is one feature I notice that is generally missing in 'cargo cult science'... It's a kind of scientific integrity, a principle of scientific thought that corresponds to a kind of utter honesty -- a kind of leaning over backwards... For example, if you're doing an experiment, you should report everything that you think might make it invalid--not only what you think is right about it... Details that could throw doubt on your interpretation must be given, if you know them.
Reality, Technology
For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled.
Science
I believe that a scientist looking at nonscientific problems is just as dumb as the next guy.
Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts.
Truth
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself - and you are the easiest person to fool.
...far more marvelous is the truth than any artists of the past imagined it. Why do the poets of the present not speak of it? What men are poets who can speak of Jupiter if he were a man, but if he is an immense spinning sphere of methane and ammonia must be silent?
Uncertainty
I can live with doubt and uncertainty and not knowing. I think it is much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers that might be wrong.
If we will only allow that, as we progress, we remain unsure, we will leave opportunities for alternatives. We will not become enthusiastic for the fact, the knowledge, the absolute truth of the day, but remain always uncertain... In order to make progress, one must leave the door to the unknown ajar.
