[extropy-chat] Feynman's 1963 Lecture - The Uncertainty of Science

[Robin Hanson]

On 1/22/2005, Brett Paatsch wrote:
>>Dear Richard had to be pretty caught up in his rhetoric to say these 
>>whoppers.
>>Scientists most definitely pay attention to the people pushing an idea,
>>including how long they have studied.  There are in practice more ideas
>>proposed than people have time to evaluate in much detail.  So most
>>are rejected (regarding publication, funding, jobs) without knowing
>>whether those ideas conflict with observations or not.  There are
>>definitely authorities who decide to reject or not, and they most
>>certainly pay attention to where the advocate comes from when making
>>this decision.  And dear Richard knew this full well.
>
>I'm glad you read that post and pulled out those excerpts Robin. I'm not
>surprised by your reaction as I'd also continued reading pretty closely
>some of your writings over the holiday particularly _Could Gambling Save
>Science?   Whilst, obviously, I like the Feynman lecture ... I do not hold 
>Feynman
>as beyond criticism, and as I was going through his lectures I was aware that
>Feynman was very much an "insider" rather than an "outsider" in the terms
>of your above essay.
>When Feynman speaks of "we" in the lecture, it often struck me as being
>a particularly restricted sort of "we". A set that certainly always included
>Feynman in it, and I think in fairness to him, a set that he always meant to
>extend to *some* others than his own Nobel-laureate-in-physics-level self.

Feynman was a great physicist, as well as a great salesman and entertainer.
He sold many on an idealized vision of himself and his social institution.
As a graduate student at Caltech, where Feynman talk for many years, I learned
that many quite unflattering tales of him are told there.



Robin Hanson  rhanson at gmu.edu  http://hanson.gmu.edu
Assistant Professor of Economics, George Mason University
MSN 1D3, Carow Hall, Fairfax VA 22030-4444
703-993-2326  FAX: 703-993-2323