
Feynman Algorithm - alexitosrv
http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?FeynmanAlgorithm
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joe_the_user
Somehow, I'll take that "I have an unusual toolkit" theory over the "he's just
super-smart" theory, especially since the later theory isn't really a theory
but a "throwing-up of the hands" - and also, Feynman might know Feynman a
little better someone else (though that's never certain either).

One thing I noticed in the Feynman book I read was that he seemed good at
being willing to going for an outcome without engaging in the usual activity
people think of as leading to the outcome - his safe-cracking involved a lot
of social engineering rather than insight into the safe's mechanism. He got
the safe open without "cracking" it.

~~~
espeed
Once you see the problem the right way, the solution will present itself.
Instead of trying to "solve" the problem, work on trying to see the problem
from different perspectives.

Like in chess -- "see the whole board."

Feynman said, "You have to keep a dozen of your favorite problems constantly
present in your mind, although by and large they will lay in a dormant state.
Every time you hear or read a new trick or a new result, test it against each
of your twelve problems to see whether it helps. Every once in a while there
will be a hit, and people will say, “How did he do it? He must be a genius!"

This was one of his "tricks" for finding associations among things others had
yet to see.

The more associations you can find, the better you will see the problem and
draw from different domains of knowledge. This helped him see things in way
where solutions presented themselves.

~~~
DennisP
"A change in perspective is worth 80 IQ points." --Alan Kay

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jashmenn
I once had this taped to the wall of my cube when I worked for a small
internet company. One of the C-level employees saw it and loved it.

In company meetings when we would be talking about a genuinely hard problem,
this exec would say "well what I think we need to do is write this problem on
the white board, think real hard, and come up with a solution". Silence +
confused looks. This happened multiple times.

He ended up being fired within 3 months.

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endlessvoid94
I think a huge reason Feynman seems so brilliant is because he didn't learn
physics or math in a traditional way. He explored. He had passion for it.

Not unlike the manner in which many successful hackers learn.

Nothing kills your interest in a subject like taking it as a class and getting
grades.

~~~
fletchowns
_Nothing kills your interest in a subject like taking it as a class and
getting grades._

Maybe if you have a terrible teacher. The good teachers did nothing but
enhance my interest in a particular subject.

~~~
BCM43
For me, the teachers will enhance my interest, but the grades aspect of it
will muffle it. I'm not exactly sure why this is.

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dcosson
I really like the variation offered by IraCooper on that page,

    
    
       1. Write down the problem
       2. Become convinced it's very important, then think about it
       3. Write down the answer
    

My own problem solving attempts are often thwarted by me working for 20
minutes and then getting discouraged and convincing myself that what I'm
working on isn't really that important. After which I, of course, waste the
next hour watching hour tv or something.

If I've heard anything about Feinman it's that he was always deeply interested
in everything he did, and his accomplishments reflect it.

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Jun8
I think that many such great thinkers have, due to circumstances and early on,
have developed

(1) a unique, uninhibited way of looking at problems, i.e. not different from
what's generally prescribed to entrepreneurs: Consider _every_ possible lead,
even if people say it's stupid/has been done, etc. Einstein, famously had
difficulty at school as a kid, so he actually thought about many concepts that
we take for granted or find silly ("what would happen if I shine a flashlight
while riding a bike").

(2) power to concentrate on a problem. When asked how he came up with his
solutions Newton said that he thought on the problem until the solution came
to him. This sounds simple but embedding yourself in a problem like that is
beyond most people's focusing skills (I can't go by 10 minutes without
checking HN, for example).

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endlessvoid94
I can't help but feel like this page does a huge disservice to what he was all
about. He wasn't some mystical super brilliant genius. He was a guy who had
some particular skills in thinking about problems and communicating them
effectively. I have enormous respect for him.

Maybe I'm being too sensitive, but it seems like WAY too many things on that
page miss the point completely.

~~~
mturmon
"mystical" -- no. But "super brilliant genius" -- yes. That's just the best
quick way of summarizing it.

Alas, this is a "method" for achieving greatness that you or I can't
replicate.

Feynmann was not "just a guy who had some particular skills in thinking about
problems". This is just not accurate.

At age 24, his Princeton advisor suggested he join the Manhattan Project. He
routinely dazzled the other physicists there, probably the greatest collection
of physics talent (Bohr, Oppenheimer, Bethe, Fermi) gathered in one place
since the Cavendish Lab in the early 1900s. And that was only the start of his
long career.

~~~
zeynel1
Feynman and other physicists built a mass destruction weapon that they knew it
was a mass destruction weapon. Feynman is a murderer
[http://science1.wordpress.com/2010/09/23/ten-most-wanted-
phy...](http://science1.wordpress.com/2010/09/23/ten-most-wanted-physicists-
for-crimes-against-humanity/)

~~~
btilly
Things to consider.

\- Feynman got involved in the belief that the Americans needed to build this
before Germany did. Which Germany certainly had the talent, motivation, and
resources to do. In short if the bomb was going to be used, he didn't want it
used against his country.

\- Once the nuclear bomb was exploded, and Feynman realized what he had helped
do, he fell into a significant period of depression.

\- In later years he publicly criticized himself for getting caught up in the
project _and continuing it_ after Germany surrendered and it was clear that
there was no race.

\- Feynman died believing that his work on the nuclear bomb is what caused the
leukemia that killed him.

It is easy to paint a picture of black and white and make people out to be
pure villains. But reality is seldom so simple.

~~~
hboon
Do you remember the source where you read he died of leukemia and he believed
it was caused by work at Los Alamos?

His ex-wife died of leukemia. On the other hand he died of stomach cancer. (he
had 2 cancers).

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btilly
Sorry I don't remember the source on that. I'm going off of memories of what I
read some 20 years ago. As my misremembering the the type of cancer shows, my
memory is imperfect.

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DTrejo
How to Solve It, by G. Polya

<http://www.math.utah.edu/~pa/math/polya.html>

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rfzabick
I think I remember reading Feynman saying that you should always have 15 or 20
problems that you have percolating in the back of your mind at any given time.
Then, any time you learn a new trick or technique, apply it to all of those
problems. Sometimes the new technique will work really well on one of those
problems and you'll look really smart, but all you did was apply a technique
from one person to one of your old problems.

I can't find the reference now...

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microcentury
The story that best illustrates Feynman for me is in Surely You're Joking Mr F
(I think - it might be the sequel). On a trip to Japan he insists on going to
an area where there is 'nothing to see' rather than the standard tour, and of
course discovers a unique and unspoiled part of the country. But even if he
hadn't, he would have considered it a win - in another of his stories, he
talks about going to bars and waiting for something interesting to happen,
knowing that much of the time nothing of note would occur. That drive to keep
experiencing something new, and the understanding that the drive would often
lead to nothing, is inspirational to me, and I think is what led Feyman to so
many interesting things in so many fields.

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phil
Reminds me of another classic Feynman/Gell-Mann quote, from _Surely You're
Joking_ :

 _Telegdi also sent us a letter, which wasn't exactly scathing, but
nevertheless showed he was convinced that our theory was wrong. At the end he
wrote, "The F-G (Feynman-Gell-Mann) theory of beta decay is no F-G."_

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swah
This works, sometimes. The other one that works even better is when explain
the problem to your dog.

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wicknicks
Here is what I would prefer to do:

    
    
      1. Write down the problem. 
      2. Think real hard. 
      3. Program the solution. 
      4. Understand changes caused by the solution. 
      5. Iterate.

~~~
dman
I think between 1 and 2 it also helps to talk to other people in your network
who might have knowledge / wisdom to share about the problem at hand.

~~~
wicknicks
Would totally add that! Real problems never get solved in isolation.

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rimantas
This must be later version — while a kid he skipped steps 1 and 3 (I am
reffering to "He fixes radios by thinking" in _Surely You're Joking_ ).

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billmcneale
For people not familiar with Feynman, here is a recent review of one of his
story books:

<http://goo.gl/5QLaG>

