Feynman: How to think 1 of 2 FUN TO IMAGINE 11 

There are indeed many things to admire in Feynman. The one that strikes me as the most unusual however is his childlike curiosity and enthusiasm about absolutely everything. I don't know why, but sadly most people lose that at some point.

My high school physics, chemistry, and biology teachers were all like that. My current physics teacher in college is the same way. I will remember each of them for the rest of my life.

I like these small bite size clips on Feynman. It saves a lot of time and you also get to learn from this great man.

The great teacher I never had 💔

The results may not always be mind blowing, but every now and then something comes along that makes all that "thinking for the sake of thinking" worthwhile. I love Feynman, and I think he was a genius whether he knew/admitted it or not.

You'd almost forget he's a physicist, this man re-writes the book of "thinking outside the box" Truly inspirational!

i love the way he explains and talks, it is very powerful and inspiring

good old days of youtube where you had to cut a 11 minute video into two parts

i cant stop watching this guys stuff

He means that everyone has something special about them, the difference is whether or not it is nurtured. His father nurtured him in a way that allowed his personal intelligence to blossom.

didnt know i could love him more till u saw this

What a brilliant, brilliant mind. For the last few months, he's fueled me with so much enthusiasm in what I do. My only regret is that ... I only found out about him recently. Never met you Richard, but I dearly miss you.

He is purely a genius. There are some geniuses I have a great deal of respect for; Einstein, Tesla, Newton,....., and Feynman.

Amazing. His insight into things was magical. But yea, I've had times where I've thought about this, that different people interpret information different ways, but my thoughts on it weren't as thorough and describable as his. This is a valuable understanding, to remember that not everyone processes information the way you do. At the very least it helps explain some awkward interactions, lol.

I've just stumbled across this learned gentleman, and how refreshing! He strikes me like Jordan Peterson in how he freely shares what he believes to be true. How loving and unselfish is that? Praise be to God.

Truly a man for all seasons. :)

i love physics and an undergrad of physics honors, whenever i get upset or tired of solving physics problems i watch this video and start again :)

I simply love the way he used his brain :) And what an extraordinarily nice person he was!

Feynman, you'll always be remembered.

hah his smile is so contagious, I said the same thing on another one of your videos, but its true. I just cant watch them without having a smile of satisfaction and fun on my face

What a treasure trove of knowledge. A beautiful mind. Doug Sherman UC Davis, BA Physics, 1985

He is absolutely adorable!

Feynman is my favorite blend of teacher, experimenter, lover of life that includes music, painting women, figuring things out, interested in many subjects and nice guy that also won't take any crap. Easily one of my favorite people of all time. I miss him. Men like him should be able to live forever. Then again, he would be forced these days to live through a time that makes no sense and has so many people that are inhuman to each other, maybe it's best he didn't have to live in this crazy, stupid, sometimes evil time. I'll have to just be happy some people knew what they had with Feynman and recorded him for us to see and listen to now.

Film called 'The Challenger' about his involvement in the space shuttle disaster investigation (William Hurt). If you are in uk it is available at the moment on bbc iplayer. Also once read a book called something like 'Surely you're joking Mr. Feynman'.His thoughts on everything from maths to bongos or how to pull in a bar. Pretty whacky guy as well as sharp.

Thank you for posting this masterpiece.

Such a great man!

I love this guy.I enjoy physics a lot but the subject is highly demanding...you cannot understand it without rigorous thinking and mathematics.Whenever I watch his videos;my spirits are lifted and I see the beauty in physics.

Yes he do knew a great deal about the human mind and how it works at a fundamental level, how language is just a way of translating complex ideas from our particular understanding of nature and the universe so others could helps us.

amen, thats great what feynman just said especially in the first minute. i completely agree

It was surprisingly pleasing to hear Feynman ending the vid innocently as a child saying that "I seem to be talking as a psychologist and I no nothing about this...". Jungean meaningful coincidence given the as much talkative hands?!

I love how he talks.. Always smile his face

charming! what a delightful fellow. i hope i can learn to explain my own ideas, and even my arguments (indeed, my arguments), as joyfully as feynman.

Brilliant scientist and, dare I say, even better at explaining the science. Transports me into a 'science trans', like watching a fascinating mystery or listening to absolute soul-touching music. People think of physics as a dry subject, but it so interesting listening to him explain it.

Mind = blown, this man is beyond brilliant.

As usual, Such an amazing story with an interesting meaning :)

What a beautiful mind. Surely he knew how gifted he was. Most of us mortals , no matter how hard we tried, couldn't even get close to this mighty fine man.

Thank you! Feynman is incredible

WoW, He's just amazing :)

When Dr. Feynmann is talking about "using the counting machine" he is really talking about how the cerebellum can perform well-learned tasks or "procedural memory". It is possible to perform well-learned tasks simultaneously while performing tasks that require further processing. This is why many people can perform a number of tasks while driving common routes of travel. New routes or novel obstacles are a common cause of accidents- they require more processing. Driving is incredibly reinforced.

Since I have a RPN (Reverse Polish Notation) calculator, I've found that I don't need to remember or write down intermediate answers anymore when I do calculations on my calculator, so it frees me up to do things faster with it and focus on other things. I think it would be interesting to try and switch from the normal algebraic calculators, to RPN calculators when teaching basic arithmetic.

I do see the point he makes about anyone being able to be brilliant. There is somewhat of a catch. It all boils down to passion. If you're passionate enough about something, you can't be stopped. Sure there's going to be absolute limitations on some things. Dreams die hard for those who aren't mentally or physically sound. Sometimes you can try and convince yourself that you like something, but if you continue to fall short you may need to reevaluate. Case and point: true passion cannot falter.

A common paraphrase of a quote from Randall Jarrell : "...we understand each other worse and it matters less than any of us suppose."

I take it as a challenge to do the test myself. Feels wonderful to be able to repeat what Richard Feynman did. I bet I won't be able to smell things and count at the same time :)

What a truly brilliant, self effacing man. Paraphrasing 'all you have to do is study hard and you're a scientist, there's nothing special about me'

just brilliant

Most people cannot understand this high level of Physics or Math and the ones that put the time and energy into it already has the interest and proclivity to learn it. For the most part, people have other things to do.

like if you count with voice

He is my roll model!!

Reminds me of when I was a lifeguard, I would try to get really good at counting heads in the pool. I'd recognize groupings of 3,4,5,etc, then add them up. I had a lot of time to kill, so I got reasonably good at it.

I love you Mr Feynman !!

@AndySiola Just another reason to love him :) No bias, no prejudice, all knowledge and experience with a touch of modesty.

This part of the interview shows best the gains to be hand by paying a bunch of very smart people to just sit around and think about stuff. (Otherwise known as academia ...) Minds of Faynman's caliber (be they trained, naturally gifted if such a thing exists, or otherwise) will mull over problems and scenarios in their heads and come up with interesting and very often useful theories to explain all kinds of phenomena.

Of course we need to, and do share concepts from our thoughts to our voices to another's ears and to their thoughts. The proof is in the world we have constructed. And yes there is space where we have no connection or understanding of the other's idea or thoughts at all and the proof for that is in marriage.

from 2:20 to the end hearing that made me shake a bit because I knew what he was talking about when I was like 6 or 7 years old but I never really knew how to explain it. Even now, I'm almost 28, if I try to explain the different ways people think I would have trouble.

I feel like I have 3 channels that I can store things to multitask with, loosely connected to my Auditory, Visual, and Tactile senses. Each can work on 1 thing at a time, and it can only work on things that relate to that sense. Everything I read I internalize as audio, despite the fact that it's coming from my eyes. I recall every number, letter, and word as my voice saying that number/letter/word.

That's fun that he has tried to count a minute. I used to do this to pass the time when volunteering at the library. My sister and I would try to look away from the clock and call out when the minute passed and see who could get the closest. It's odd to me that he simply counted the same and figured out it was 48 counts for him to be a minute. I just kept changing my speed of counting until I said 60 on a minute. I also don't have a terribly difficult time speaking and counting or reading and counting. It makes me wonder what part of my brain is being used when I count.

"Now I'm talking like a psychologist and you know I know nothing about this" Inmediate face after: "I actually know everything..."

Practicing different means of thinking is FUNDERFUL! 3:54

I love this.

I love Feynman’a explanation. We think we’re a lot more similar between our ears than we actually are.

One of my heros

The way he talks with those little jumps of thought and this profound modesty reminds me a little bit of Robin Williams from his Inside the actors studio interview. Both are probably part genius, part clinically insane (in the most positive way).

This guy was a legend

That reminds me of when i am doing an equation i have keep one answer in my head and type in other numbers on the calculator to finish the equation (while still repeating the first number in my head). so basically when typing in the next equation, i just recognize the numbers that i'm pressing in a different way (without consciously thinking about them)

mind blown

Interesting experience to try

Half right. Although Bill did use some underhanded tactics to boost his own company, that does not negate that he was very, very good at programming.

There aren't more Einsteins everywhere because finding someone who can study for hours on a particular subject everyday is extraordinarily rare. However, when you do find someone who can devote a vast amount of time to a subject, you will see be amazed at their proficiency. (look at pro athletes, musicians, actors, gamers, scientists, etc.) Genetics does play some role, but a gift does not correlate to achievement as much as hard work does.

man this guys in that time in history is just a, MASTER!!!!!!

this guy just blew my mind lol

In "What Do You Think What Other People Think" there is a chapter that he experiments with visual and auditory modes of thinking and counting.

I think he has described what we now know about "neurodiversity".

People in general get nervous and do not forgive if you get too familiar to their heros!

Just from my own personal experience, I would agree with this.

No amount of passion will overcome an individuals intellectual limitations, and these limitations do vary significantly in the population. There are areas of mathematics for example that are very difficult to understand and follow for most anyone. Furthermore, even given one can understand the theorems in mathematics, this is far shot from the difficulty in developing and constructing original mathematical proofs that lead to mathematical theorems in the first place.

Yeah I too got the distinct impression he was talking about the effect of psychedelics on time perception at around the 2:15 mark.

@elronxenu You've tried both because you've heard about them. But what if you just had to pick a way yourself. Would you have thought of every different way to do it on your own? What he meant to say, I think, is that usually people think about things very differently, and they won't change because they don't ever realize it's different, or even need to. Doesn't mean they can't change or that we can't think alike. Just means we usually don't in our normal lives.

Indeed.

@TheStigma I agree with guillefix. However, what you said still holds true on a psychological level. What each of us perceives as green is just a recognition of pattern which was taught to us at an early age. Your parents tell you the grass is green so you begin making correlations. Because of this a parent could make their child legally color blind by isolating and teaching them that grass is red. What he sees may be similar to what we see, but his brain makes all the wrong connections.

I've done both counting by imaginary hearing and counting by imaginary seeing. So I think Dr Feynman is wrong to conclude that what goes on inside different peoples' heads could be entirely different. It seems more like the brain has several subsystems each of which can be co-opted to provide some function (counting) while the rest of the brain is otherwise busy (reading or speaking). Which method is chosen may depend on habit or necessity.

I agree with him so much. i took geometry 3times in high school n thought i didnt have a math brain. a few years later i got the balls to tackle math so i could do what i loved, science. sill i was intimidated by the thought of quantum physics oooooooo. but if u train ur brain it can be what u want it to be. now math is one of my favorite things.

the way he talks, somewhat reminds me of my grandfather lol

just the different modalities as per NLP. most common are visual and auditory as a persons primary modality. very well understood these days

nice

@itsfreerealestate The point is it's interesting. He was curious, so he did something about it and tried to figure out what was happening.

@horbergus Good point. I love this man, at 2:17 he is talking about doing drugs

I know it's dumb to compare Sheldon (from The Big Bang Theory) with Feynman but now I know where from he has that nerdy laugh ;))

I read "Feynman's Rainbow". It is about a great, world-loved scientist - the author's side-office in Caltech - who developed a terminal cancer. Passingly, about another one, kind of sour personality then not so much loved, who lost his wife and become ever more sweeter and caring. And the author himself who, at the end of the saga, is misguided into thinking he had a terminal disease himself. We are sure the image of God... That's because we are like quantum fluctuations! Fractals...

As a proffesional lowclass unschooled idiot, I can vouch for this dudes brilliance...

I used to juggle 5 balls a lot and I'd count all of my catches every time. One day I realized that even if I didn't consciously count the number of catches, my brain would still count them for me. This didn't work very well after 70 or so catches though, and sometimes it was difficult to turn the subconsciously known number into it's conscious from.

Am i the only person interested in seeing a film about the life of Feynman? Whenever I watch a video like this I imagine him being played as Robin Williams.

Must be cold there 🤣🤣🤣

@acr08807 I naturally want to agree with that as well in understanding that there are no physiological problems with the child's perception. However common sense is that which tells us the world is flat. There is a BBC special on the Himba tribe that suggests language has a stronger correlation with language than we might have imagined. (although the Himba tribe does have a method for how they organize color. So my point is moot really.)

He would have kicked ass in just about any field.

I also thought people think differently aswell, but I didn't really guess how. It's kind of interesting to know people count differently in their head, I count like Feynman does. How do you guys count in your head? That other guy who sees it visually is insane.

Counting objects by groups of them is called "Subitizing" and it uses a different mechanism than actually counting things.

@ChudFapper "A genius is made, not born". You can train your brain to the same standard as that of a intellectual genius.

Good god this is deep.

I just realized it almost impossible for me to write down a number on a piece of paper without uttering the same number in my head if I don't utter something else on purpose.

NLP's submodalities explained by Richard Feynman!!