I think the most important quotes from Feynman's address are the ones about being fooled, such as this one:
> The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool. So you have to be very careful about that. After you’ve not fooled yourself, it’s easy not to fool other scientists. You just have to be honest in a conventional way after that. [0]
There are assumptions at the root of all human endeavors. We can't replicate all the experiments ourselves, so we must assume our forebears were on the right track. But there's no good process for fixing science-mistakes, when the science-mistake becomes sacrosanct ("regarded as too important or valuable to be interfered with"). For example, Feynman discusses Millikan's falling oil drop experiment, and how hard it was to replace the Millikan's not-quite-correct-but-published result.
You can have integrity and 'utter honesty' but still be wrong if your starting assumptions are wrong.
"> The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—"
Good post. From my experience, it's pretty easy to fool oneself (it's happened to me too many times).
It's very easy for one to have preconceived notions or ideas about something and as such it doesn't take much evidence if any for one to be convinced that one's ideas about them are correct even if factually they're to the contrary.
Moreover, precovinced ideas and notions often stop one from reviewing existing evidence about them that one already has in one's possession. When one's without supporting evidence then the very nature of that preconception may stop one from seeking out new or additional information about them.
Essentially, one's entrenched views that one hasn't come by through a process of substantial and rigorous thought one ought to always question.
The trouble is it's easy to say that, to keep the notion ever present at the forefront of one's mind is damn hard.
> The first principle is that you must not fool yourself—and you are the easiest person to fool. So you have to be very careful about that. After you’ve not fooled yourself, it’s easy not to fool other scientists. You just have to be honest in a conventional way after that. [0]
[0] https://calteches.library.caltech.edu/51/2/CargoCult.htm
There are assumptions at the root of all human endeavors. We can't replicate all the experiments ourselves, so we must assume our forebears were on the right track. But there's no good process for fixing science-mistakes, when the science-mistake becomes sacrosanct ("regarded as too important or valuable to be interfered with"). For example, Feynman discusses Millikan's falling oil drop experiment, and how hard it was to replace the Millikan's not-quite-correct-but-published result.
You can have integrity and 'utter honesty' but still be wrong if your starting assumptions are wrong.