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    • CommentRowNumber1.
    • CommentAuthorUrs
    • CommentTimeJan 22nd 2021

    added this quote:

    Have no respect whatsoever for authority; forget who said it and instead look at what he starts with, where he ends up, and ask yourself, “Is it reasonable?”

    diff, v8, current

    • CommentRowNumber2.
    • CommentAuthorUrs
    • CommentTimeAug 16th 2021

    added more pointers to popular talks/writings (here), and more quotes from these on the topic of doubt (here)

    diff, v9, current

    • CommentRowNumber3.
    • CommentAuthorDavid_Corfield
    • CommentTimeAug 16th 2021

    Scientific knowledge is a body of statement of varying degree of certainty - some most unsure, some nearly sure, none absolutely certain.

    But working out which to be most unsure of and which to be nearly sure of is the tricky thing.

    • CommentRowNumber4.
    • CommentAuthorUrs
    • CommentTimeAug 16th 2021

    Just keep hashing it out.

    This is not a new idea; this is the idea of the age of reason. That we should arrange a system by which new ideas can be developed, tried out, tossed out, more new ideas brought in; a trial and error system – the openness of the possibilities is an opportunity, and doubt and discussion are essential to progress into the unknown. (Feynman 55, last column)

    diff, v10, current

    • CommentRowNumber5.
    • CommentAuthorDavid_Corfield
    • CommentTimeAug 16th 2021

    Unfortunately, not as commonly achieved as it should be.

    • CommentRowNumber6.
    • CommentAuthorUrs
    • CommentTimeAug 16th 2021
    • (edited Aug 16th 2021)

    Not sure where you are headed, is this a commentary on the page edit?

    This morning I saw people use these Feynman quotes on Twitter without proper referencing (as so often), which prodded me to dig out links to the sources and extract the full relevant quote.

    Seems rather tautological to me what young Feynman was saying back in 1955. But maybe you feel it’s a controversial quote?

    • CommentRowNumber7.
    • CommentAuthorDavid_Corfield
    • CommentTimeAug 16th 2021

    No, what Feynman says is right. I’m just groaning at human irrationality.

    • CommentRowNumber8.
    • CommentAuthorUrs
    • CommentTimeDec 20th 2022

    added pointer to:

    • Richard Feynman, What is Science?, speech at 15th annual meeting of the National Science Teachers Association, New York City (1966), reprinted in The Physics Teacher 7 6 (1969) 313-320 [doi:10.1119/1.2351388, webpage]

    with this quote:

    Science is the belief in the ignorance of experts.

    When someone says, “Science teaches such and such,” he is using the word incorrectly. Science doesn’t teach anything; experience teaches it. If they say to you, “Science has shown such and such,” you might ask, “How does science show it? How did the scientists find out? How? What? Where?”

    It should not be “science has shown” but “this experiment, this effect, has shown.” And you have as much right as anyone else, upon hearing about the experiments – but be patient and listen to all the evidence – to judge whether a sensible conclusion has been arrived at.

    diff, v13, current