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Feynman 50 years ago on the topic of model representations
https://t.co/lvp75QK8Wc
Elias Najarrox.com
One of my favourite letters, insightful & humane, from Richard Feynman to a former student who was having a rough time
I was reflecting on it as an argument in favour of scope insensitivity, or even in favour of smaller problems: https://t.co/lEFI3A0uXO
Now I'm going to discuss how we would look for a new law. In general, we look for a new law by the following process. First, we guess it.Then, we compute– well, don't laugh, that's really true. Then we compute the consequences of the guess, to see what, if this is right, if this law that we guessed is right, we see what it would imply. And then we... See more
Richard Feynman • "Seeking New Laws"
What is the origin of universality in complex systems? This 1979 paper by Ken Wilson in @sciam explains the Renormalization Group, one of the most powerful ideas in physics. Used to study everything from magnets and liquids to ecosystems and societies.
https://t.co/WoaBOvoL0A https://t.co/3CzOASy6YF
Even more important than these contributions, he set in motion the process of rethinking our worldview—a search for knowledge based on the rejection of any obvious-seeming “certainty,” which is one of the main roots of scientific thinking.
Carlo Rovelli • Anaximander: And the Birth of Science
Quantum mechanics has proven to be a highly successfully theory. Physicists Bruce Rosenblum and Fred Kuttner remind us in their book Quantum Enigma: “Quantum theory works perfectly; no prediction of the theory has ever been shown in error. It is the theory basic to all physics, and thus to all science.
Mark Gober • An End to Upside Down Thinking: Dispelling the Myth That the Brain Produces Consciousness, and the Implications for Everyday Life
I do agree, but Feynman famously had a much lower tested IQ than most of his colleagues(his being around 120) and still contributed massively to the field. His lecture series at UCLA in the 1960s isn't great because he's so damn smart, but because he communicates it so well.
Jeff Holtbeckx.com