Much To Learn — The important thing is not the name, but the thing! (The wisdom and genius of Richard Feynman)
The wisdom and genius of Richard Feynman -
Richard Phillips Feynman (/ˈfaɪnmən/; May 11, 1918 — February 15, 1988) was an American theoretical physicist, known for his work in the path integral formulation of quantum mechanics, the theory of quantum electrodynamics, and the physics of the superfluidity of supercooled liquid helium, as well as in particle physics for which he proposed the parton model.
For his contributions to the development of quantum electrodynamics, Feynman, jointly with Julian Schwinger and Shin’ichirō Tomonaga, received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1965.
A rose by any other name…
Intelligent people intuitively don’t get hung up on names.
And they aren’t impressed by people who can regurgitate facts WITHOUT having any idea what it really is, nor what its significance amounts to (i.e., scope of use cases, degree of global impact, disruption ability , etc.).
Instead, when confronted with something new or “anti-dogma”, they choose to look deeply into what it really “is”.
Consequently, they gain a profound understanding of it; an understanding that is light years ahead of much of the current, well established, but faulty dogma.
Let’s look at Richard Feynman’s story about “The Name of Birds”…
Richard Feynman: "What's the name of a bird?" —
See:
“Richard Feynman: The Difference Between Knowing the Name of Something and Knowing Something”
Knowing the name of something doesn’t mean you understand it. We talk in fact-deficient, obfuscating generalities to cover up our lack of understanding.
To me, it’s a no-brainer.
I’d rather know what something is, instead of focusing more on “looking smart” by spouting out multi-syllabic names and words that I vaguely understand.
Let’s face it.
What good is correctly knowing the exact name and pronunciation of a word when you can’t even explain what it is (in the simplest, most understandable terms)?
I’d rather be like my friend.
My friend used to pronounce the term “.gif” as “giff”, but that wasn’t a big deal with me.
The important thing was that, unlike me, he knows what the code behind the “.gif” graphic file format is AND can easily make animated .gifs.
I’m still learning how to make animated .gifs that aren’t lame.
By JaiChai
About the Author —
Believing that school was too boring, he dropped out of High School early; only to earn an AA, BS and MBA in less than 4 years much later in life — while working full-time as a Navy/Marine Corps Medic.
In spite of a fear of heights and deep water, he performed high altitude, free-fall parachute jumps and hazardous diving ops in deep, open ocean water.
After 24 years of active duty, he retired in Asia.
Since then, he’s been a full-time, single papa and actively pursuing his varied passions (Writing, Disruptive Technology, Computer Science and Cryptocurrency — plus more hobbies too boring or bizarre for most folk).
He lives on an island paradise with his teenage daughter, longtime girlfriend and three dogs.
"My mind was a terrible thing to waste…” — JaiChai
Originally published at https://steemit.com on October 15, 2018.
