Feynman 'Fun to Imagine' 12: Ways of Thinking (Part Two of Two)

[wellwellwellall]

plasma goes on and on.......

[furetosan]

Well, @johnyd101, I'd totally bone the gaga from edge of glory :P

[thejojoshabadoo]

@furetosan Good news, there are plenty of her on the streets of your local red light district

[ayb100]

Amazing set of clips...Thank you...waht a brilliant mind he had...

[busplunger]

Indeed.Exactly!

[8644371]

I'm depressed right now.

Richard always fixes that.

I love this guy. I wish we could've interacted.

[vasilistoxo]

Hi, do you know if there are more videos from this series? They're great.

[rpm297]

And to think that we're a part of nature's imagination-all of us- are a part of nature seeking to know herself. I haven't yet found anything that makes me feel more "plugged in" to everything than that thought... that everyone and everything has a place. makes me feel welcome. And that's it's ok to be myself. It's like an antidote for suicidal thinking. And yeah, the bad spellers too.

[TheGlenn9]

hes right I am one of those people that hope a more simple explanation lies behind quantum mechanics ,it annoys me that I cant understand it and it all sounds so weird.

[rhcquant]

@TheGlenn9 there really isn't a simple explanation, I'm afraid to say... however, there is a framework that people like Feynman attempt to make accessible. If only I could be such a good teacher.

[mrfrankricho]

I can relate to his theory in that, as a trained photographer and professional retoucher, I "SEE" photos and movies different than my friends "SEE" them. Because I know about film, digital CCD capture, pixels, resolution, color bit depth, lighting, light exposure, photo processing techniques, post production effects, etc, etc, etc that when I view a movie or see a photo I already KNOW so much about how it was created. It's like knowing the atomic formulas he described to better "see" the atom

[pyrobryan]

@mrfrankricho Film school almost ruined my love for film because of this. I wasn't able to see the art for a long time because all I could see was the technical aspects.

[Guggel1966]

"I think Nature's imagination is so much greater than Man's, she's never gonna let us relax.". I think he's right about that. And I don't feel uncomfortable about it. It just makes me more curious.

[Buckbaggums]

Richard Feynman is the most interesting man in the universe

[montrey666666]

the time when i write this there are 4 dislikes to this video(and i reeealy do hope there wouldn'n be more).My question is: who the !@#$ is so stupid, to not understand (thus like) this simply lovable genius of science and explaining? Seriously, dislike people, get a BRAIN!!

[grouchysin]

@montrey666666 I like to think it's just people with poor mouse using skills; the "like" and "dislike" buttons are right next to each other :)

[MudBarf]

@montrey666666 Chill. Not everyone likes chocolate either. And yes, Feynman's words are brainchocolate. But really, does it matter? Does it make anything he says less true that a few people don't like him? Does it lessen your enjoyment of listening to him?

Live and let live. Let them go be happy with their pixies or elves or chris chrimbles, and you be happy with your life - and don't let them upset you. Feynman was happy-go-lucky - if you like him so much, why not emulate that?

[laqueesciousb]

What I wouldn't give to have been born early enough to have been in one of his Berkeley classes. He's completely spoiled me with his enthusiasm, his inner glow that shines when he explains or meets with a conclusion, and his ability to explain, all others pale in comparison.

[sportsportsport]

Genuine genius. Beyond working hard and studying hard and being interested, his mind had a way of expanding ideas. Was it natural selection of molecules in his brain etc. that made it biologically possible..... I'm dumb.

[yetisfeet]

How on earth could there be dislikes?

[Another1LikeYou]

@YellowBricks1234 :'o I am one of those people who get completely drunk and I still live physics (actually my greatest discutions where with a bottle of vodka in the hand)!

[arsenelupin123]

@Another1LikeYou

Indeed.

[robertwc82]

"she's never going to let us relax" she's never going to let us get bored

[Lehooooo]

@soPPaz2358 I've already read it (as part of the book "Classic Feynman: All the Adventures of a Curious Character" which is a collection of the books "Surely you're joking, Mr Feynman!" and "What Do You Care What Other People Think?") and yes, I did love it!

[kirkula]

4 people's balls turned blue.

[Lehooooo]

Wow! I just watched all of the parts of "Fun to Imagine" and I'm both amazed and amused. Feynman had such a knack for explaining in a way that was both easy to understand and entertaining, you just can't stop listening when the man talks. He also had sort of a philosophical bent in that he is constantly concerned with how to interpret the behavior or nature instead of being satisfied with the predictive power of the laws and formulas. But perhaps greatest of all is his contaminating enthusiasm.

[minclLess]

When my balls collide, they do actually turn blue.

[YellowBricks1234]

I'm so glad that I'm not one of those poeple who go out and get completely drunk but would rather listen to a talk about how amazing nature and life is!

[jimmyti9cer]

all time classic science quote

[ifscott]

Just realised Christopher Sykes (the poster) was the producer of this for the BBC. Great stuff.

Feynman was not only a true genius but also the master communicator of science.

[LaserParody]

@ifscott ~ I had no idea, thank you for the insight!

[krishtube]

Beautiful! Just beautiful!

[lsminl]

@johnnyd, I don't see the contradicition. I think you can like both..

[IconicFiber]

I laughed hard when he talked about the blue balls

[BlazzingSaber]

I think nature's Imagination is so much greater than man's, She's never gonna let us relax.. -Richard Feynman

You are a true genius, thanks for these lectures. R.I.P. you're with nature again =)

[roflcopter2225]

beautiful

[MrFancyPant]

Brilliant!

I wish I learned to think like this in school..

Only realise now, in university, how useful and fun this type of imaginative thinking is!

[johnnyd101]

wow some great musings in the last 12 clips... but moat people would rather listen to lady gaga and her random sounds.. for every great man like feynman there are a million morans with their heads up there asses.

[lazurm]

@johnnyd101 Morans should be morons. There should be their. Moat should be more. Don't forget to mention that for every great man like Feynman there are a million bad spellers also. :)

[johnnyd101]

@lazurm ye i have no excuse spell check is on youtube comments, must have been angry on the day i posted this or possibly drunk because i actually don't mind lady gaga, her random sounds are quite nice.

[spibbly]

haha, two dislikes. What sad, sorry people.

[leet512]

interesting!

does anybody know which equations he's talking about that predict helium's viscosity and state of matter at absolute zero?

[d3st88]

Aw. I watched the videos from 1-12, then I finished this and I was eager to click on 13, but there isn't a 13th. I'm sad because I could listen to this man for days.

[grrfu]

i like to use personalities to understand physics.

it's as if the atoms are people, and the collection of atoms is countries of people. a single person is unpredictable(assuming you dont know them of course) but large groups of people are quite predicable in a controlled environment.

personalities also cannot be explained in terms of waves and particles... i find it appropriate.

[JBazzleRedux]

@grrfu That explains it quite well. I wish I had my style of learning figured out as well as you do.

[Brainkiller]

this guy has the smarts

[zglee]

Great. this guy was genius. What I don't like is that in school we are thought quantum mechanics in terms of particles, waves, etc. Bullshit. The truth is - we cannot imagine with our macroscopic mind what is going on there. It is something else - a new kind of univers very curious and mysterious. And the only way to learn QM so far is through mathematics. Don't fool yourself thinking you can otherwise. Unless u are not human :)

[klgamit]

@zglee I see where you're coming from. However, even Feynman stressed the importance of having a certain model in your head. Models help us get new ideas and guess at new laws.. so I think it's important to keep trying to find new ways of imagining anything which can't be observed directly. Because evidently I think, some of these pictures helped advance science more than others. And perhaps when we'll have more complete knowledge, the "pictures" will actually correspond to reality better.

[crappymeal]

his understanding has huge moral implications about faith we wont find the ultimate answers for a very long time yet if at all as far down the rabbit hole we go, I think that only in death will we see everything for what it is when we escape this creative reality playground but my belief changes all the time

[crappymeal]

others may feel that in death we stop existing or any number of things but ultimately I think we can all agree that our time hear should be cherished and that our differences I belief really dont matter to the way we should live our lives. Its an argument that will likely never be answered and maybe its a pointless one but I guess its the question that drives our evolution

[chubbsuperfly]

Feynman here addresses the evolution of human thinking, and how generational discoveries allow us to peel back the mysteries of the physical world. As always he is contagiously excited in his wonderment and wants us to look at the world differently, more honestly, more factually, and not rely on any 'mysterious' forces that somehow capriciously come into play that remain beyond our comprehension. This ability to shift perspective, in all things, is quite possibly the tool that defines humanity.

[tuzmor]

"we"?

How many of us have an internet connection?

There more than 6 billion people in the world...

[poliklosio]

@tuzmor Yes, you and me have the access to an internet connection, since we are able to write those comments. Where did I claim that all the people have that access? In fact, significant population has got the access; there's enough of it to drive some global changes and the fact that the most influential ones have it makes it even more significant.

@tonybeir The fact that it has existed for a (relatively!) long time doesn't mean that it cannot be stunning.

[chubbsuperfly]

@poliklosio The most influential among us may be a dying child or a victim of a catastrophe, manmade or natural. There may be hundreds of Feynmans and Sagans and Einsteins all without the chance to collate their ideas or rest between wars, to make a sketch of a physics solution simply for the want of a pencil or piece of paper, or schoolhouse, or proper nutrition to avoid starving. The number of possible scientists, poets, doctors, leaders, all with answers that may benefit humanity, is huge.

[poliklosio]

@chubbsuperfly There are two flaws in your logic. 1. You don't realize that people who die are not influential. (Note how here I am not going into the off-topic of how they could be, that you started).

2. It is not logically possible to have everyone being the MOST influential. Whoever is influential, it is a minority.

This doesn't change the fact that internet amongst influential has more impact than internet amongst non-influential.

[poliklosio]

@poliklosio What I meant is that your rant about how potentially great people die does not change the fact that internet amongst influential has more impact than internet amongst non-influential

[chubbsuperfly]

@poliklosio My logic is sound, and not a criticism of your post(s). However, I would question the logic of your indictment that I "don't realize that people who die are not influential." Hmmm, really? (Letting the irony of a Feynman video marinate a moment longer here...ahh.) We all die, BTW. Which minority is the most influential, IYO? Anyway, your points are valid. My thought was we'll never know all the possible, incredible, amazing, or weird futures that have been muted. That's influential.

[poliklosio]

@chubbsuperfly @chubbsuperfly It just directly follows from your post that you confuse "potentially influential" with "actually influential". The second is the default meaning of "influential".

If you say that the processes of starvation, poverty etc. are influential, I must agree. However, it is not clear how. It may be that accelerating the ones who already have power brings more development (I hope it is not and charities do not lead us towards a civilisational disaster).

[poliklosio]

@chubbsuperfly Also, thinking that they are only genes that create Feynmans and Sagans and Einsteins appears extremely utopic to me. Its the environment that mostly shapes people. When you raise a child in an Angolan village it becomes a farmer, when you raise it in the lucky conditions Feynman had, It will be likely to become someone like Feynman, If you raise it in front of a computer screen in the US, it becomes chubbsuperfly. ;)

[dietermauer]

@poliklosio That logic makes zero sense.

You are saying that, if you grow up in a country like Angola, you will most likely become a farmer (ok, valid point) but than you say, that if you grow up "in the conditions feynman had" you see? how can you talk about an country as an example, and than switch your mind and talk about lucky conditions?

What you are saying is, that if you grow up Angola = farmer and if you grow up in the USA=Scientist (thats what feynman is).

This logic = 0 sense.

[poliklosio]

@dietermauer This is not about pure logic, its mainly about statistics and probability. Of course what shapes people is a combination of world, country, local environment and parents, each of them having increasing importance. What you need to note, however, is that to become a scientist: 1) To some extent those factors multiply each other, so if you miss one element, you are very likely not to become a scientist. 2) Probability is massively smaller in Angola.

[dietermauer]

@poliklosio Or are you really convinced that, if somebody grows up in the USA will most likely become a scientist?

I dont think anybody can support such claim.

[poliklosio]

@dietermauer I never said that. Learn logic, particularly caveats of inference and generalisations, then read my answers.

[poliklosio]

@poliklosio Of course its an answer to "Or are you really convinced that, if somebody grows up in the USA will most likely become a scientist?".

[poliklosio]

Only when I find *these* kind of things on the internet I realize how stunning is the modern technology that allows it. Guys, we are sitting at our homes in 2010 and getting thrilled and inspired by Richard Feynman !

[tonybeir]

@poliklosio this internet thing... do you think it will catch on?

[paranoiadmin]

enHanzable: your logic is flawed, yes kaku might not be as brilliant as feynman was, but he have still furthered the progress of string theory which now explains everything known in a mathematical sense, and if we are lucky will be tested soon.

So what have you done for mankind, which gives you the right to pick on a man which helps mans understanding of the universe.

The world got enough idiots as it is, stop acting like one ;)

[SneakyDudeBG]

Very inspiring. Thanks for posting the vids!

[tsny35]

Thanks so much for posting these videos. I enjoyed them very much.

[heybatov]

"she is never gonna let us relax" very well said!!

[ChalleFoV3]

Incredible man. I hope I can compare myself with him when I'm his age.

[xerinx24]

nature prevails!

[Sconz32]

I listen to this guy to pump me up before studying math.

[RamirezTerrix]

He has an aura wich makes you want to learn everything in the world...

[3200manpro]

@Sconz32 Hahahaha that's what I'm doing right now!

Feynman is the best procrastination or use of time there is

[wookieproductions]

This guy is the biggest nerd ever, and I mean that in the most flattering manner

[Kamatzu]

Apparently, we have machines that are able to view atoms now.

watch?v=7-BcbvfttjU at a couple mintes in, Michio Kaku manipulates atoms.

[pylyp3]

There are machines such as electron microscopes that can detect individual atoms and show us a representation of their arrangement on a screen. To see an atom in the normal sense of the word though isn't possible. Light waves are simply too long and cannot provide the resolution needed.

[Kamatzu]

Thank you for correcting my un-knowledge, haha. The Kaku video is misleading.

[stinny777]

@Kamatzu Fuck Kaku. He's the "Chris Angel: Mindfreak" of physics.

[Kamatzu]

Because he's good at what he does and success at popularizing it?

Oh, ok.

[enHanzable]

Kamatzu: No, because he's an ego-maniacal, incoherent, anti-scientific, monstertruck TV show host with no clue whatsoever what the fuck he's talking about.

Kaku is about the distortion of science to benefit his idea of himself as all previous scientific minds melded into one. Fortunately, fewer and fewer people take him seriously now, including the scientifically illiterate, his target audience. Simply because he acts like an asshole and says things even kids see through as stupid bullshit.

[stinny777]

If one is to talk about their own scientific breakthroughs, it has to be shit they genuinely discovered. More than once he says "Im now able to.." or such phrases to reference other peoples hard work (ie the supercooled iron levitating the magnet). Of course he's able to do that, and so am I now that someone else figured it out. An egomaniac sensationalist is not welcome in the scientific community unless their personal contributions are proportionate to their sensationalism

[Kurtlane]

I think that some of the so-called savants would develope an ability to see images based on differential equations.

I'm thinking of one particular person, brilliant in calculations, learning languages, etc, and also very normal otherwise (which is rare with savants). He sees numbers in terms of shape and color. He is surely smart enough to learn differential equations (if he hasn't already), and I think with a bit of practice he'd be able to see them working.

[BeetrootChessElf]

@Kurtlane Daniel Tammett perhaps?

[nineinchtaint]

Thank you so much for uploading this series!

[DLPBurke]

I think he is totally right. We will never understand the small because we live in the big.

[mkolleen]

but we are beginning to understand the small and have made great strides. We just can't understand it in terms of our lives in the realm of the big.

[cphill2012]

The hardest part of quantum mechanics is that it isn't deterministic. It is all based on probabilities.

[logxxl]

In our perception it is, at the present. Maybe some day we will find an easy way of calculating it (e.g. in x-dimensional equations ), but they would probably doesn't play all along - and we'd try to figure out what's underneath it... But that's the beauty of since, I guess. If we had known everything, wtf we'd do as a race? Probably destruct ourselves in some tremendous way - and the whole universe wouldn't even notice.

[benjykenjy]

I learned more watching these videos than all of my High school physics classes I had back then Mr. Feynman has such a simple way of speaking, that his enthusiasm for imagining the working of nature that it contagious you right form the start

[planetdarwin]

Best series of vids ever.

[clara1860]

Thanks very much for posting these videos. He was a marvelous teacher. Nothing could be more interesting than listening to his views, and surely no one interested in the world around us could fail to be profoundly affected.

[mescience]

Great videos I watched all 12 of the series. Im pyshced!

[itsfakebytheway]

What?!?! Balls don't turn blue?

[MassiveJungle]

In my experience, they do.

[mihkeltt]

I guess that "braingasm" would be the word to describe the state i'm in right now after having watched thorough all the 12 episode series. how come i haven't heard of this man before?

[soupie]

I know, I'd heard james randi talking about him and read about him in books by michio kaku, but never thought of looking him up on youtube, until last week, he's amazing, his enthusiasm is so infectious:)

[MuslimGhost]

He keeps referring to nature but what he means is Allah. I dont see how anyone could see the amazing care and complexity that went into the creation, the laws and systems of the universe around us, and then say that it was all the product of many random chancse, instead of a Creator showing us the signs of His infinite knowledge and power by our observing and pondering over what we see in all that He has created

[cryptyk]

When Feynman refers to nature, he means nature - not a deity.

Richard described himself as "an avowed Atheist".

Simply because YOU believe something doesn't mean that everyone else is trying to fit their thoughts into your framework and were somehow unable to articulate it.

Especially this Nobel Prize winner in Physics. If he meant Allah, he would have referred to Allah. He didn't and he didn't.

[MuslimGhost]

lol yeah, "nature".. he refers to a fictional diety composed of blind chance and weak, limited, non-sentient matter as being the creator of all the perfect and beautiful systems he seems to be so fascinated by.

[gokulives]

I agree (not necessarily "Allah", but definitely a deity), but I don't think Feynman would =)

Either way, Feynman is great at explaining complex things in terms that are easier to understand.

Great stuff.

[phrostphil]

Properties of nature are governed by verifiable forces. Thinking generates a force as well - so whether you think allah created everything or a hamburger created everything makes no difference to the force generated by thinking. Both thoughts are producing force. It's not what you think, but thinking itself!

[elimik31]

BEFORE the universe was created? What do you mean by that? When you talk about the universe you shouldn't rely on the experiences of your daily file. Does the universe really have a beginning? What does this mean? What was when neither space nor time existed? Is it really necessary to have a creator? Before giving such answers you should first think a bit and please not in this outdated manner.

The Big Bang is no proof of God. I'm looking forward to further progress in a ToE, see stringtheory.

[MuslimGhost]

The universe clearly does have a begining. Are you familliar with the laws of thermodynamics and the concept of entropy and heat death? I suggest you look these up and learn about how they preclude the possibility of an eternal universe. Stringtheory is outdated in favor of M theory, and M theory is completely delusional, it requires 11 dimensions, and if you hear it described it sounds just like christianity- it asks you to have faith without any reason based on the truth of unlinked facts

[ChudFapper]

Oh, the irony of a muslim claiming christianity is delusional.

[needabloodyname]

@MuslimGhost The Laws of Thermodynamics only apply to closed systems. Stop taking your fantasy stories and applying them to science.

[MuslimGhost]

@needabloodyname The universe is a closed system, dumbass. No matter what the "outer container" your crackpot fantasy involves- whether multiverses or otherwise- it would ultimately be a closed system. Please stfu and let me know once you get past your discovery-channel-viewer level of knowledge of science and mathematics.

[needabloodyname]

@MuslimGhost Your user name is "muslimghost' which automatically puts you in the moron category. How the fuck can the universe be a closed system when we don't even know it's limitations and if it is expanding or not. Also, a multi-verse theory is far less crackpot than anything islam has to offer.

[kokomoman]

@MuslimGhost You're not debating science, you're debating faith. Feynman is talking about science... He is not talking about faith. You should go post your BS on videos that talk about faith. There is no room for Magic in Science. Magic is for those with lesser intellect.

[ZYKLONBKILLSHITLER]

@needabloodyname And heat-related things.

[dietermauer]

@MuslimGhost Well, I dont know if you are aware of it, but there are plenty of other creators biside Allah, who are most likely much more powerfull than Allah himself.

I think LordShiva or Zeus would kick Allahs ass.

But my favorite God is Osiris, you should pray everday to Osiris !

[GeorgeInHerJungle]

@MuslimGhost "Allah is the only one who was Eternal" hmm i like how you reasoned that out and came up with such a certain conclusion.

[Br1an37]

A light went out when Richard Feynman died

This man was a true genius in the real sense of the word

Awesome, like Einstein, very sadly missed :-(

[pyVlad]

@Br1an37 I don't think he would like that... he didn't think he was a genius, he just thought in a certain way. Anybody can do it. He was a source of spreading for that way of thinking, and that was his real value, and he can still do that, through the miracle of modern media and internet. As Sagan said, after you die you survive in the memories of those you left behind. Feynman lives on in the minds of millions.

[itsfakebytheway]

is there a part 11? If so can you pleasseee upload it. These are really great

[itsfakebytheway]

I could listen to Feynman for ever.

[soccom8341576]

The last point is most important. But I know it is still possible to understand and eventually visualize phenomenon as much as we can do.

[tokotokotoko3]

Thanks a lot for uploading. Great stuff.

[tsargent6737]

I used to listen to this guy holding court in the Caltech cafeteria (the greasy spoon). At first I thought he was a delivery truck driver.

[wowthungsten]

I feel incredible envy towards you now. I would have sat in that cafeteria just waiting for him to come in.

If all delivery truck drivers were this smart, there would be a significant jump of the world IQ to the right [of the bell curve].

[ostrorawr]

Haha, it's funny because truck drivers are dumb and we're so much better.

[wowthungsten]

Humans, such a terrible waste of space.

[Impact0115]

Perfect use of sarcasm.

[Thumbface]

I wish more people could be as open as this guy.

[beefydan7272]

this one. i like it.

[Eeekpenguin]

My favorite quote of the video: "It's second nature to know that if 2 balls came towards each other they smash into bits. You don't say when they come towards each other they turn BLUE" 3:43

[nhojmabon]

Thankyou very much for the videos ChristopherJSykes.

[Qtyled]

Thank you! How long was this whole series 'Fun to Imagine'

[oldmansteptoe]

thank you

[AMP3G]

i did not know there where more people like me who ponder like this. this is amazing.

[hamstermanvideo]

Thank you for posting these. They make YouTube a lot better.

[francescaemc2]

Thanks Mr. Feynman. You have no idea what joy you continue to bring into my life! Even you might be surprised.

[jack19790]

I'm so in love with you.

[francescaemc2]

wait... are you the straight guy with the man crush on Dr. F?

I so share your sentiments!

peace,

Francesca

[WarVideo]

Youre stupid, Japan deserved to get nuked.

[Minionuup]

Good.

[mogerroor]

Thank You for uploading :-)