Letters from and to Feynman, lovingly collected by his adoptive daughter. As good if not better than Surely You Are Joking, these reveal the real human being behind the bongo drums. His opinions on life, science and the pursuit of happiness.
Quotes:
study hard what interests you the most in the most undisciplined, irreverent and original manner possible
In physics the truth is rarely perfectly clear, and that is certainly universally the case in human affairs. Hence, what is not surrounded by uncertainty cannot be the truth.
What one fool can do, another can. (about the inevitability of Russia having atomic bombs)
My peculiarity is this: I find it psychologically very distasteful to judge people’s “merit.” So I cannot participate in the main activity of selecting people for membership. To be a member of a group, of which an important activity is to choose others deemed worthy of membership in that self-esteemed group, bothers me.
What do I advise? Forget it all. Don’t be afraid. Do what you get the greatest pleasure from. Is it to build a cloud chamber? Then go on doing things like that. Develop your talents wherever they may lead. Damn the torpedoes—full speed ahead!
I am not sure, but it is even possible that a large drop-out rate is not a result of selection but of what happens to the poor guys when they get here. For example, a student that has been at the very top of his class for all his previous schooling, finding himself below average at Cal Tech may have a 2:1 chance to get discouraged and drop out, for psychological reasons. No matter how we select them, half the students are below average when they get here.
I believe I would feel uncomfortable at a scientific conference in a country whose government respects neither freedom of opinion of science, nor the value of objectivity, nor the desire of many of its scientist citizens to visit scientists in other countries.
This is in answer to your request for a letter evaluating Dr. Marvin Chester’s research contributions and his stature as a physicist. What’s the matter with you fellows, he has been right there the past few years—can’t you “evaluate” him best yourself?
Perhaps for scientists, as for women, our charm is in our mystery.
I didn’t really intend to insist that ethics and science are separate, but rather that the fundamental basis of ethics must be chosen in some non-scientific way. Then, when this is chosen, of course, science can help to decide whether we should or should not do certain things.
You say you are a nameless man.You are not to your wife and to your child.You will not long remain so to your immediate colleagues if you can answer their simple questions when they come into your office.You are not nameless to me. Do not remain nameless to yourself—it is too sad a way to be. Know your place in the world and evaluate yourself fairly, not in terms of the naïve ideals of your own youth, nor in terms of what you erroneously imagine your teacher’s ideals are.
It seems to me that there is some chance that you may be successful since you say you have not studied physics in a disciplined fashion. So much the better, but study hard what interests you the most in the most undisciplined, irreverent and original manner possible.
I believe that a book should be only an assistance to a good teacher, and not a dictator. Please have confidence in your common sense and protect the children from being intimidated by the unnecessary abstractions and pseudosophistications of the school books. Stay human, and on your pupil’s side.
Work hard to find something that fascinates you.When you find it you will know your lifework. A man may be digging a ditch for someone else, or because he is forced to, or is stupid—such a man is “toolish”—but another working even harder may not be recognized as different by the bystanders—but he may be digging for treasure. So dig for treasure and when you find it you will know what to do.
And the crassness of our time, so much lamented is a crassness that can be alleviated only by art, and surely not by science without art. Art and poetry can remind the mind of beauty and gradually make life more beautiful.
For your records, may I state in writing that as of this date, January 6, 1976, I am not holding, nor during the last ten years have I held, a responsible position as defined in the contract of the wager. —For the purpose of the aforementioned WAGER, the term “responsible position” shall be taken to signify a position which, by reason of its nature, compels the holder to issue instructions to other persons to carry out certain acts, notwithstanding the fact that the holder has no understanding whatsoever of that which he is instructing the aforesaid persons to accomplish.
In physics the truth is rarely perfectly clear, and that is certainly universally the case in human affairs. Hence, what is not surrounded by uncertainty cannot be the truth (unless it be written in Russian “pravda”).
Writing letters is dangerous
Here many people think the same way—they go in packs like wolves.
Well, I guess that means you win your debate—but that doesn’t mean we know what’s true. Just because Feynman says he is pro-nuclear power, isn’t any argument at all worth paying attention to because I can tell you (for I know) that Feynman really doesn’t know what he is talking about when he speaks of such things. He knows about other things (maybe). Don’t pay attention to “authorities,” think for yourself.
About the est conference. It seems to me that we should keep the conference as small as possible and have only guys that are really working actively in the subject attend. On item 1, what the hell is Feynman invited for? He is not up to the other guys and is doing nothing as far as I know. If you clean up the invitation list, to just the hard-core workers, I might begin to think about attending.
Simple questions with complicated answers are always asked by dull students. Only intelligent students have been trained to ask complicated questions with simple answers—as any teacher knows (and only teachers think there are any simple questions with simple answers).
“I was asked to assist in the creation of the world’s most destructive machine but I was never asked how to use it. Now I realize what I have done and what that machine could do, and I am afraid.” (quoted by the Rabi, remembering a meditation Feynman gave in a synagogue service)
As I began to read your letter I said to myself—“here is a very wise man.” Of course, it was because you expressed opinions just like my own.
commentaries, that disease of the intellect
To use mathematics successfully one must have a certain attitude of mind—to know that there are many ways to look at any problem and at any subject. [...] The successful user of mathematics is practically an inventor of new ways of obtaining answers in given situations. Even if the ways are well known, it is usually much easier for him to invent his own way—a new way or an old way—than it is to try to find an answer by looking it up.The question he asks himself is not, “What is the right way to do this problem?” It is only necessary that he get the right answer.
What is the best method to obtain the solution to a problem? The answer is, any way that works.
The real problem in speech is not precise language. The problem is clear language. [...] One does not learn a subject by using the words that people who know the subject use in discussing it. One must learn how to handle the ideas and then, when the subtleties arise which require special language, that special language can be used and developed easily. In the meantime, clarity is the desire.
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