Blog #21

This section of Feynman’s autobiography was especially thought provoking as he introduced topics that were previously highlighted in class discussions and more notably, Dr. Pennock’s book. In the first section of chapter 4, Feynman discusses his passion for teaching and remarks that he always wanted to do something and to contribute something to his field. He then notes that this was a mindset that he had, which is unique as it aligns very closely to the points illustrated by Dr. Pennock. In Pennock’s book, he discusses the idea of internal goods versus external goods, and what motivates scientists to pursue their respective field. As I was reading this section, it became clear to me as the reader that Feynman was very much motivated by the idea of pursuing science just to satisfy his inherent virtue of curiosity. To support this notion, Feynman dived into this concept later in this section by noting that he wanted to do science because it was “fun,” in other words, he was not motivated on a monetary basis, or the need to discover something, but simply experimented with different thoughts/tools just to see what would happen. He also states that he wanted to enjoy science and not feel pressured to make discoveries. This is a significant notion as this mindset was also reflected in scientists such as Darwin, who admitted multiple times throughout his autobiography that his only purpose in life was to pursue science, to find out some truths to the natural world, and to ultimately contribute something for the next generation to follow suit.

Furthermore, this section involved discussion of “languages,” which is a flexible word that can be taken in many different contexts. Feynman highlights this topic by introducing his trip to Brazil, whereby he learned that his students were mainly memorizing the information presented. This is an interesting point because he then discusses a situation in which he meets someone that spoke Mandarin and he responds in Cantonese. These two points are significant since they both highlight the importance of communication in science. I immediately compared this concept to Barbara McClintock, who struggled in communicating her findings to her fellow peers in the field of genetics. In Feynman’s book however, we see that in communicating information to others in a particular way influences their actions. For example, he noticed through his effective communication with his students that they were merely memorizing information presented to them as opposed to learning. In his second anecdote, we see that he interacts with someone speaking a different dialect, which brings up the point that even the slightest errors might result in skewed information/miscommunication. Both situations again illustrate that to be effective as a scientist is to be able to communicate to others effectively in order to spread knowledge and in certain situations, correct miscommunication errors.