What Problems to Solve (1966)

NortySpock

This was a beautiful letter to read, with a simple piece of wisdom about life, spelled out for the student.

I am grateful that this was submitted to Hacker News, and that I was able to read it.

sky2224

Man while Feynman was a genius, I think it's underappreciated just how articulate and philosophical he was. I've always loved reading his work because he just knew how to say things the right way.

This letter really allows that side of him to shine through.

m463

He could would shrink the complex into something that could fit in even my head.

I like this one:

This particle is a perfect ball bearing that can move at a single speed in one of six directions.

from "Feynman the Explainer" in:

https://longnow.org/essays/richard-feynman-connection-machin...

also:

"Don't say `reflected acoustic wave.' Say [echo]." Or, "Forget all that `local minima' stuff. Just say there's a bubble caught in the crystal and you have to shake it out." Nothing made him angrier than making something simple sound complicated.

bravesoul2

Beautiful. Tear to my eye!

I think this is a rare mix of deep humanity and intellectual thinking in one essay.

Lol then... I saw who wrote it!

Good advice for all HN. Often you see a comment and bio shows an amazing career. However they couldnt be amazing without rest of us being average (average of something...). Can't have a max without a median.

FredPret

> "...Do not remain nameless to yourself – it is too sad a way to be. now (sic) your place in the world and evaluate yourself fairly, not in terms of your naïve ideals of your own youth, nor in terms of what you erroneously imagine your teacher’s ideals are..."

Wise words

nashashmi

> You will get the pleasure of success, and of helping your fellow man, even if it is only to answer a question in the mind of a colleague less able than you.

> innumerable problems that you would call humble, but which I enjoyed and felt very good about because I sometimes could partially succeed.

> You met me at the peak of my career when I seemed to you to be concerned with problems close to the gods.

As problem solvers, we need encouragement to face the difficulties that lie in exploring problems. We need to believe that it can be solved but more so that WE/I can solve it. We need to raise our egos to healthy amounts (not sure what is the precise definition of healthy) so we don't back down or give up. And Mr. Feynman alludes to this with "the pleasure of success", "helping your fellow man", "answer a question in the mind of a colleauge", "I enjoyed ... because I sometimes could partially succeed", and "problems close to the gods".

I am exploring (and absolutely denouncing) this egotism for it leads to frustration, disconnection, illusion, entitlement, and shielding. I feel that (good) school/university/work environments raise ego levels (with "good job!") and aloof you from _........ (which is a utopian place with a healthy encouragement to do more work and work harder to a point where it does not overwhelm you).

The identify of this _........ place keeps occuring to me and flees from me as quickly as it occurs to me. If there is anyone who works without ego, please let me know.

rusk

Original sin mate. We must suffer an appreciation of the divine while being simultaneously unable to fulfill it. Accept you humanity and be kind to yourself about it.

cocoa19

This echoes what I have thought about my career. What to work on.

I've been blessed to have a good paying career in software engineering, but I've never really felt passionate about the products I work on. At the end of the day, my job is a paycheck. I do feel joy solving problems for others, improve society, be able to answer colleagues questions when they "come to my office". My family is happy that I can provide and that I am a role model for them.

I sometimes think I should work on things that make me happier. Sometimes I think that my career path is a mistake, I should work on problems "closer to god", make more meaningful contributions, build the next Kubernetes/ChatGPT/Google/<insert revolutionary product>, advance AI, climate change. I end giving up, I'm not that ambitious or driven.

I'm important to my family and colleagues. That may be good enough.

William_BB

It depends on what "working on those problems" means to you. If you want to work on those problems as a software engineer, that sounds like an achievable goal.

To me, the interesting, fulfilling bits of building the next Google/ChatGPT/AI/climate change lie in the theory. Arguably with the exception of Kubernetes, this theory does not come from software engineering. As much as I enjoy software engineering, it's a trade. It's a tool to get the job done. And recently, I realized I like building things just as much as I like "the theory".

To me, that was a bitter pill to swallow. I'm not an ML engineer, but I suspect this is also the reason why you can find so many posts about ML engineers trying to pivot to ML scientist roles.

nevertoolate

I was surprised that after “closer to god” comes the “build the next kubernetes”. How do you connect these two things?

E.g. I’ve found the “closer to god” in my yoga practice. And how I now realize that through words I can’t connect that much as through practice (e.g. just eating my lunch being fully present). I still think I can help through my software product building skills, but also know that if I can help people find a more joyful life / build a less painful body is closer to my purpose than “only” building software.

nh23423fefe

The vast majority of human existence from million years ago to now is toil. I don't spend anytime feeling bad about being well compensated at an air conditioned office working on CRUD.

jona777than

> That may be good enough.

I would argue it is.

I have had discussions with peers recently around doing the big flash-y <insert revolutionary product>. An interesting analogy surfaced. The nuts in the studs of the infrastructure of the many structurally sound homes in existence are just as important (meaningful) as the doors, windows, and more flash-y features. They may be _more_ important in some cases. They all make up the home.

It made me realize it might not be all about maximizing ambitious pursuits. Maybe it is more about experiencing the joy of solving the next problem and the fulfillment that comes from simply being needed pretty regularly.

meristohm

In keeping with the list preceding "climate change", consider changing it to:

"...advance AI, change climate."

jebarker

I’m in a similar career situation and I am trying to beat my ego into submission to adopt a similar mindset

apples_oranges

Perhaps it’s not ambition or drive but just curiosity. „I wonder if we can …“ -type of thinking.

dang

Related. Others?

What Problems to Solve - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8030010 - July 2014 (45 comments)

svat

Do not remain nameless to yourself (1966) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23808400 - July 2020 (123 comments)

agcat

This is a great post. Totally resonate with the thought of solving something that gives you the "win" feeling and it doesn't matter whether its small.

zzbn00

“studying the Coherence theory with some applications to the propagation of electromagnetic waves through turbulent atmosphere… a humble and down-to-earth type of problem.” -> Ended up being a very important (and largerly solvable!) problem in ground-based astronomy

karussell

Thanks a lot for posting this. I highly recommend having a look into the mentioned flexagons. This is a child toy where Feynman laid the mathematical background and it is very fascinating toy which you can easily build yourself. Try it out - it is really fun. No child required except yourself :)

dumdedum123

Wow. I didn't know about this letter. It's very inspiring.

mef51

I read this letter for the first time many years ago when I was in my physics undergrad and thinking about starting grad school. It still crosses my mind pretty often as a postdoc.