Non-Fiction Paperback: Richard P. Feynman: The Meaning of It All

Richard Feynman didn’t write this book. He spoke it. This is a transcription of his series of three rather informal lectures given in 1963 at the University of Washington, two years before he was co-awarded the Nobel Prize in physics for his works in Quantum Electrodynamics (QED). Talking to an educating audience who were not limited to those majoring in physics, Feyman talked about three connecting topics over a three days period... So, this book is divided into three sections; The Uncertainties of Science, The Uncertainties of Values, and This Unscientific Age.

The Uncertainties of Science deals with the value of the ability to recognize own ignorance (or lack of absolute knowledge) as the basic principle in science that propels its forward movement toward learning new things and better understanding how things really work in this universe. Feynman is on the most solid ground in this chapter, and his ‘strays’ during the lecture aren’t hard to follow. He takes longer to explain his ideas than a more eloquent speaker/writer would, but he uses ordinary language that any layman can understand, while taking care to use examples that non-scientists can relate to. Perhaps he could have elaborated more on how the scientists classify the degrees of uncertainty in scientific knowledge... After all, I do know of a few people who won’t hesitate to equate the uncertainty of Quantum Mechanics with the percentage of fulfilled prophecies in their religion... Never mind that QM is so uncertain that you can type a 10000 words email on your computer and have it appears exactly as you typed it on another computer 10000 miles away almost instantaneously more than 90 out of 100 times, while the religious prophecies generally requires manipulation after the fact in order to fit an event retroactively in as a fulfillment of a prediction. But all the same, the point is that there is no shame in not claiming to be in absolute possession of a knowledge one does not have. And the point is made sufficiently in this lecture.

On the next chapter, The Uncertainties of Values, Feynman discusses religious morality as being subjective (perhaps more subjective than the religious readers would admit), and so may not be as incompatible with science as one may think (in that they occupy different spheres of the human psyche... which is what I get out of what Feynman is trying to say, though I may be wrong). Apparently, socialism is comparable to a religion in Feynman’s way of thinking (and I think I agree to a certain level). Although Feynman was born a Jew, he never practiced it and did not believe in a god (at least not one described by any religion), and so he spends a lot of words trying to be as politically correct as he could (it wasn’t his strongest point)... which makes this chapter a bit harder to decipher than the first. It took me a few rereads to be satisfied that I get what he is trying to drive at, since his straying while trying to get to the main point(s) take a more elaborated form here.

The main motif, I think, is that for each action there are two questions, aside from the ‘how to make it happen’, a person must ask and answer; ‘If I do this, what will happen?’, and ‘Do I want this result, then, to happen?’ And while science can help one answer the first question, it is of no help when it comes to the second question (at least that’s what Feynman asserts... Though some Social Darwinists may disagree). And so he restrains from bashing religions (out right) and from dismissing them as completely useless. He posits that a religious faith may help with the ‘should I do this?’ question, therefore a man’s mind may be big enough to fit both science and religion in, with some difficulties, without exploding in a big wacky mess (after all, some of the fellow scientists he admired were also very religious and didn’t find their faith to be conflicting with their science).

The final chapter, This Unscientific Age, addresses not the lack of technology and knowledge in the generation he was addressing (this lecture was from 1963), but the unscientific mode of thinking... the devaluation of the ability to express uncertainty. This lecture sees Feynman is his rant mode, centering (well, not exactly centering since he strays into his ranting so much some would have forgotten what he was trying to get at when the ranting started by the time he finishes with the example(s) he thought up) on how the celebration of the claim to have the solution backfires on the ability to actually figure out the solution (you can’t fix a problem if you don’t first admit that you do have a problem). It is a frustrating chunk of pages to read, since this chapter should, in my not-so-humble opinion, be more up his alley than the previous one, but it seems he gets so caught up in his outrage on various things so much that I find myself asking, ‘so, what’s the point again?’ every so often.

That said, even in Feynman’s most off-topic rant, he still drops in many little pearls for thoughts and some really cool insights (the dude was calling for molecular biology to become the leading field of scientific research, and this talk happened in the early 60's!). It is 122 paperback pages uneven collection of thoughts, but it is mostly quite engagingly lay-friendly and sprinkled with a generous amount of vintage Feynman self-deprecating humor. There is no illustration or photo included in the book aside from the photo on the front cover. If you have never tried reading a Feynman book before, I would suggest going for his Surely You’re Joking, Mr. Feynman! or What Do You Care What Other People Think? or The Pleasure of Finding Things Out first. This book is a worthy read, though it does require some patience and an open mind.

You can also catch a good glimpse of Richard Philip Feynman at:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sk8TVopOBGE

Recommended: Yes