The Meaning of It All
Page 10
So the question is whether it is possible to do something analogous (and work by analogy) with moral problems. I believe that it is not at all impossible that there be agreements on consequences, that we agree on the net result, but maybe not on the reason we do what we ought to do. That the argument that existed in the early days of the Christians as to, for instance, whether Jesus was of a substance like the Father or of the same substance as the Father, which when translated into the Greek became the argument between the Homoiousions and the Homoousians. Laugh, but people were hurt by that. Reputations were destroyed, people were killed, arguing whether it’s the same or similar. And today we should learn that lesson and not have an argument as to the reason why we agree if we agree.
I therefore consider the Encyclical of Pope John XXIII, which I have read, to be one of the most remarkable occurrences of our time and a great step to the future. I can find no better expression of my beliefs of morality, of the duties and responsibilities of mankind, people to other people, than is in that encyclical. I do not agree with some of the machinery which supports some of the ideas, that they spring from God, perhaps, I don’t personally believe, or that some of these ideas are the natural consequence of ideas of earlier popes, in a natural and perfectly sensible way. I don’t agree, and I will not ridicule it, and I won’t argue it. I agree with the responsibilities and with the duties that the Pope represents as the responsibilities and the duties of people. And I recognize this encyclical as the beginning, possibly, of a new future where we forget, perhaps, about the theories of why we believe things as long as we ultimately in the end, as far as action is concerned, believe the same thing.
Thank you very much. I enjoyed myself.
INDEX
Abject honesty, 106
Action
making choices, 44–45
results of, 45
Adventure, scientific spirit of, 47
Advertising
as perpetually insulting, 87
in television, 85
Age
heroic, 62–63
unscientific, 59–122
Alternative theories, 69
Americanism Center, Altadena, 99
Analogy
dangers in arguing from, 117
work by, 121
Ancients and imagination, 10
Anecdotes, 82–83
Answers, insistence on, 66
Arabian scholars of science, 115
Arguing from analogy, 117
Art, modem, 55
Atheists, 36, 40–41
Atomic bomb, testing, 108
Atoms, 12, 14
Authority, feelings toward, 61
Bacteria, proteins of, 11–12
Beliefs
in existence of God, 38
religious, 43
Bible, predicting phenomena, 94–95
Biology, science of, 53–54, 62
Birch Society, 100
Boogie man, 103
Brain, imagination of human, 22
Brave New World (Huxley), 120
California, real estate in, 96
Campaign promises, 66
Candles, 13–14
Chance, 80–81
Change, experiencing, 67
Chemical History of a Candle (Faraday), 13–14
Chemistry, 15
Christ, nondivinity of, 44
Christians, 121–22
ethics, 44, 47–48
Christian Science, 93–94
Civilization, Western, 47
Coincidence, 82–83
Commentators, 88–89
Communication, 31
Conclusions
attaining, 65–66
uncertainty of, 26
Conflicts, 43–44
between nations, 48
Congressmen, ratings of, 101
Constitution, writers of, 49–50
Contemplation of universe, 39
Criminal detection, 118
Danger from radioactivity, 107
Dan Smoot Report, The, 100
Danz lectures, vii, 61, 97–98
Democracy, confusion of, 49
Deserts
buying land in, 95–96
and water, 96
Detection, criminal, 118
Discipline, requirement of, in
scientific reasoning, 18
Discovering new things, 98
Doubt
freedom to, 28
its value in sciences, 28
learning to, 37
scientists dealing with, 26–27
turned on ethical problems, 40
Dream of finding open channel, 33
Education, 31
Electricity, 13–15
Encyclical of Pope John XXIII, 122
Energy, free, 120
Ethical and moral views, 41
Ethical aspects of religion, 41–2
Ethical judgments, 120–21
Ethical problems, doubts turned on, 40
Ethical values, 43
Ethics, Christian, 44, 47–48
Exception tests the rule, 15–16
Experience, religious, 39–40
Extrapolations, 25
Facts learned in science, 38–39
Faith
certainty in, 43
healers, 93–94
people believing in, 33–34
Faraday, Michael, 13–14
Farm problem, 65–66
Federal Pure Food and Drug Act, 97
Financial arrangements, international, 118
Flying saucers, 75–76
Freedom to doubt, 28
Free energy, 120
Free ideas and Poland, 52–53
Fusion, controlled, 120
Future
looking to, 119–20
new, 122
Galileo, 121
Germany, fear of resurgence of, 52
God
belief in, 36–37
definition of, 35
existence of, 37–38
moral values are word of, 42
questioning existence of, 46–47
Golden Rule, 44
Govern, inventing a system to, 49
Government, limited, 57
Government power, limit to, 50
Healers, faith, 93–94
Health products, 97
Heaven, science is key to gates of, 6–7
Heritages, two, 47
Heroic age, 62–63
Homoiousions, 122
Homoousians, 122
Honesty
abject, 106
lack of, 106, 109–10
Hooke, Robert, 121
Human beings; See also People
imagination of brains, 22
physiology of, 12–13
potentialities of, 31
proteins of, 11–12
relationships among, 22
Huxley, Aldous, 120
Hypnotism, 74–75
Ideas
development of, 55
free, 52–53
having permanence or constancy, 75
impact of, 3–4
judging, 64
new, 27, 114
old, 3–4
truth of, 21
Ignorance, admission of, 34
Imagination, 10
of human brain, 22
of nature, 10
in science, 22–23
Independence between ethical and moral views, 41
Indians, Navajo, 86–87
Information, lack of, 98
Inheritance, psychoplasmic, 53
Inspiration, 42, 46–47
Intelligence of average television looker, 87–88
Intelligent questions, asking, 65
International financial arrangements, 118
Inventions, nontechnological, 118–19
Jesus, 121–22
John Birch Society, 100
John XXIII, Pope, 122
Judgments
ethical, 120–21
u
ltimate, 45–46
Khrushchev, Nikita Sergeyevich, 55
Knowing, living without, 27–28
Knowledge
admitting lack of, 33
believers and nonbelievers, 92–93
is dangerous, 36
Labels and health products, 97
Land
buying in deserts, 95–96
and water, 96
Laws, old, 24
Life
internal machinery of, 11
meaning of, 32–33
Living without
knowing, 27–28
Lysenko, Trofim
Denisovich, 53–54
Mariner II voyage to Venus, 109–12
Matter, atoms of, 14
Mental telepathy, 71–74
Metaphysical aspects of religion, 41–42
Middle Ages, 21, 115
Mind readers, 69–70
Mind reading, analyzable, 71
M.I.T., fraternity at, 82
Modern art, 55
Moon, propaganda and going to, 113
Moral values, 120–21
outside scientific realm, 43–45
as word of God, 42
Moral views, 41
uncertainty of, 48
unchanged, 42–43
Motion, as not affecting weight, 24
Nakhrosov, 55–56, 120
Nations, conflict between, 48
Nature
imagination of, 10
rules that describe, 24
understanding workings of, 15
Navajo Indians, 86–87
New ideas, 27
Newspaper reporters, 88–89
Newton, Sir Isaac, 121
Nontechnological inventions, 118–19
Nuclear testing, 106–7
Objectivity of science, 18–19
Observations, 15
game of making, 18
improving effectiveness of, 71
as judge of truth of ideas, 21
limitations of, 16
rough, 17
in Middle Ages, 21
Occurrences, one or two as proof, 83–84
Open channel, maintaining, 57
Origins of universe, 12
Padgovney, 55–56
Paralysis
of everything, 103
principle of, 102–3
using method of, 105
Paranoia, 103–4
People; See also Human beings
as not honest, 106
ordinary, 76, 85–86
Polish, 51
radio religion, 94–95
Phenomena, 106
Bible predicting, 94–95
Philosophers, 20
Philosophy of science, 18
Physics
freedom for, 54
two schools of, 54
Physiology of human beings, 12–13
Point Four program, 7–8
Poland and free ideas, 52–53
Polish people, 51
Politics
disparaging of, 66
unscientific role of, 97–98
Potentialities of human beings, 31
Power
to do things, 5–6
limit to government, 50
Prayers, individual, 40
Precision of statements, 25
Prediction, 23
Probability, 80–81
Problems
farm, 65–66
grappling with, 56–57
what is probable, 77
Products, health, 97
Programs
Point Four, 7–8
Ranger, 112–13
Promises, campaign, 66
Propaganda and going to moon, 113
Proportion, sense of, 105
Proteins
of bacteria, 11–12
of humans, 11–12
Protocol of the Elders of Zion, 106
Psychoplasmic
inheritance, 53
Questions, asking intelligent, 65
Radioactivity
danger from, 107
protection from effects of, 108–9
unsafe level of, 107–8
Radio religion people, 94–95
Ranger program, 112–13
Read, ability to, 116
Real estate in California, 96
Reasoning
and positive inventions, 18
scientific, 18
Relations among scientists, 21–22
Relationships, human, 22
Religion
as answering all kinds of questions, 41
ethical aspect of, 41
and inspiration, 47
inspirational aspects of, 41–42
metaphysical aspects of, 41–42
radio people, 94–95
Religious beliefs, 43
Religious experiences, 39–40
Reporters, newspaper, 88–89
Resurgence of
Germany, fear of, 52
Rules
to be checked, 23
and consistency of science, 23
exception tests, 15–16
powerfulness of, 20
specificity of, 19
testing of, 19
that describe nature, 24
Russia
backward country, 50
and biology, 53–54
development of ideas, 55
and modern art, 55
not free, 53
Sampling,
statistical, 84, 89–91
Science
Arabian scholars of, 115
contents of, 9
development speed of, 62
doubt as value in, 28
facts learned in, 38–39
imagination in, 22–23
key to gates of heaven, 6–7
limitation of, 63
meaning of, 4–5
as method, 15
as misunderstood, 36–37
objectivity of, 18–19
philosophy of, 18
practical aspects of, 9
and religion
conflict between, 35
relation of, 34–35
rules and consistency of, 23
and society relationships, 7
and technology, 50
three aspects of, 4–5
uncertainty of, 1–28
value of, 6
Scientific realm, moral values as outside, 43–45
Scientific reasoning, 18
Scientists
as atheists, 36
dealing with doubt and uncertainty, 26–27
relations among, 21–22
Seaton, Mother, 77–79
Society and science, relations between, 7
Speech, parts of, 115–16
Spinning of tops, 24–26
S.P.X. Research Associates, 102, 105
Statistical sampling, 84, 89–91
Stupidity, phenomena result of a general, 95
Systems, traffic, 118
Technology
applications of, 62
and science, 50
Telekinesis, 68
Telepathy, mental, 71–74
Television
advertising in, 85
looker, intelligence of average, 87–88
Testing, nuclear, 106–7
Theories, allowing for alternative, 69
Thoroughness, concept of, 17
Tops, spinning, 24–26
Traffic systems, 118
Troubles and lack of information, 91
Truth
of ideas, 21
writing, 56
Uncertainties
admission of, 34
dealing with, 66–67, 71
relative certainties out of, 98
remaining, 70–71
of science, 1–28
scientists dealing with, 26–27
of values, 29–57
Uncertainty, 67–68
Universe
contemplation of, 39
origins of, 12
Unscientific age, 59–122
Values
ethical, 43
moral, 120–21
uncertainty of, 29–57
Venus
flying saucers from, 75
Mariner II voyage to, 109–12
Vocabulary, 116
War, dislike of, 32
Water, and deserts, 96
Weight, as not affected by motion, 24
Western civilization, 47
Witch doctors, 114
Words, as meaningless, 20
Writing truth, 56
ABOUT RICHARD FEYNMAN
Born in 1918 in Brooklyn, Richard P. Feynman received his Ph.D. from Princeton in 1942. Despite his youth, he played an important part in the Manhattan Project at Los Alamos during World War II. Subsequently, he taught at Cornell and at the California Institute of Technology. In 1965 he received the Nobel Prize in Physics, along with Sin–Itero Tomanaga and Julian Schwinger, for his work in quantum electrodynamics.
Dr. Feynman won his Nobel Prize for successfully resolving problems with the theory of quantum electrodynamics. He also created a mathematical theory that accounts for the phenomenon of superfluidity in liquid helium. Thereafter, with Murray Gell–Mann, he did fundamental work in the area of weak interactions such as beta decay. In later years Feynman played a key role in the development of quark theory by putting forward his parton model of high energy proton collision processes.
Beyond these achievements, Dr. Feynman introduced basic new computational techniques and notations into physics—above all, the ubiquitous Feynman diagrams, which, perhaps more than any other formalism in recent scientific history, have changed the way in which basic physical processes are conceptualized and calculated.
Feynman was a remarkably effective educator. Of all his numerous awards, he was especially proud of the Oersted Medal for Teaching, which he won in 1972. The Feynman Lectures on Physics, originally published in 1963, were described by a reviewer in Scientific American as “tough, but nourishing and full of flavor. After 25 years it is the guide for teachers and for the best of beginning students.” In order to increase the understanding of physics among the lay public, Dr. Feynman wrote The Character of Physical Law and Q.E.D.: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter. He also authored a number of advanced publications that have become classic references and textbooks for researchers and students.
Richard Feynman was a constructive public man. His work on the Challenger commission is well known, especially his famous demonstration of the susceptibility of the O-rings to cold, an elegant experiment, which required nothing more than a glass of ice water. Less well known were Dr. Feynman’s efforts on the California State Curriculum Committee in the 1960s where he protested the mediocrity of textbooks.