Evening Reading

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  Richard Feynman was a goddamn genius. Definitely on my list of all-time famous people I'd like to have to... : daVinci1980
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    you would have a dinner party with lots of dead people? : radula
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      Has no one ever asked you? If you could have a dinner party with 5 historic guests, alive or dead, wh... : daVinci1980
      • At least they wont eat much! : radula
      • The alive ones. : cerealSAM2
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    anybody else kinda get goosebumps listening to a brilliant person? i get them a lot from ted videos, daw... : GloriousCow
    • You get it cow, that's why you get goosebumps :) Abstract thought is a beautiful thing! : spyrext
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  I don't get it :( Why did she slip? : DingoStoleMyBaby
  • gravy : radula
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    The big bang. But then why did the big bang go bang... http://www.wimp.com/happenedbefore/ : podung
    • That big vacuum chamber gives me the willies. : ZombieAcademy
    • Holy shit, what building is that? : davislovestacobell
• http://www.shacknews.com/laryn.x?id=24444742 : ThereCanBeOnlyOneCat
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  Seen the youtube posted a few times. Can't open wimp on the video? I wanna see if it longer than the one ... : anhero
  • Fuckit, I'll post the video because it is part four of a multi part. Interview series and the whole set w... : anhero
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    this playlist will keep you busy http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8777381378502286852# : GloriousCow
    • ^^ I recommend this : gyokuro
    • Fucking flash on phone! Bah. I need a nokia 900 : anhero
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      here's the rest of those videos. that video is part of one of my favorite series of videos on youtube. it... : Herman Toothrot
      • oops mean for the OP : Herman Toothrot
• Magnets! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpBxCnHU8Ao : shortbuscaptain
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  he should have just started at the 7 minute mark. The rest was "look, you're an idiot." : steelsamurai
  • er the 5 min mark :( : steelsamurai
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    he had to explain to the guy why he is an idiot because that guy was being a dickhead idiot. : gyokuro
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      the guy was asking a simple question. What's going on with magnets basically. Something that any scientis... : steelsamurai
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        But it's not exactly brain surgery http://www.wimp.com/brainsurgeon/ : CRasterImage
        • hahaha, that show was great. : daVinci1980
        • Not exactly rocket science... : daVinci1980
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        at :49 - "of course its a reasonable - its an excellent question" If you've listend to a lot of Feynma... : GloriousCow
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          We don't know the mechanism. Just consider what you said... magnets work by "electromagnetic force". Simi... : steelsamurai
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            We do know the mechanism, but it's a specific part of quantum electrodynamics. : daVinci1980
            • it comes down to "this thing and that thing repel". : steelsamurai
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            If we didn't know the mechanism, we wouldn't have a name for it. That we don't understand the mechanism i : GloriousCow
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              know and understand are synonyms, but you're saying we know the mechanism but don't understand it. I'... : steelsamurai
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                I disagree that they are exact synonyms. I can know that something falls due to gravity without fully un... : GloriousCow
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                  it's painful to have to refer to the dictionary, but Webster lists them as synonyms and uses one in the d... : steelsamurai
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                    what you have just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your... : deloski
                    • If you don't understand it perhaps you should just not reply : dooberzoo
          • The semantics, and his explanation of them, is what I found most interesting. I didn't find him arrogant.... : anhero
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        The question wasn't simple, and that was Feynman's point. And what does the history of magnetism have... : daVinci1980
        • The point that Feynman is trying to make is that why magnetism exerts a force is an irreducibly complex p... : daVinci1980
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          it was a *simple* question, the *answer* is not simple. Furthermore you're entirely missing the entire pu... : steelsamurai
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            that is on the simplicity front: the interviewer is just asking "magnets, what gives?" You can get ti... : steelsamurai
            • What Feynman did is elucidate what it meant to actually ask such a question. That's part of the whole rea : GloriousCow
      • #2398

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        By: anhero x Show Full Post

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        I actually felt the exact opposite the first time I saw it and felt that it really helped explain how difficult science is to grasp without a level of simple acceptance, especially when we use analogy so much in technical explanation.
        
        Like he could tell me the formulas of why, but honestly, I wouldn't grok (I hate that word) without the fact that common analogy does the concept no justice. He wasn't calling anyone stupid - he was trying to emphasise how magnetism as a whole is such a foreign concept with so many fascinating and perhaps unexpected repurcussions.
        
        I think a similar speech could be done 5 years ago about gravity, in a different sense. Like, we can grasp we stick to earth because the mass keeps us here, but all the other implications and unexpected (non-newtonian) behaviors of gravity are beyond the concept of even astrophysicists.
        
        I think you projected to much. I really appreciated his presentation.

        Nov 11, 2010 1:07am PST
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        I actually felt the exact opposite the first time I saw it and felt that it really helped explain how dif... : anhero
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          I think I have a special gift of shutting down trolls. They never seem to respond to me even though they ... : anhero
          • I feel the same way, although I did get responses tonight. : daVinci1980
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    The rest was an interesting break-down of the kind of assumptions we make and and contexts in which we as... : DinK
    • After finishing the rest of the video, I thought the whole explanation including the set-up was excellent... : DinK
• Well! I'm glad he cleared that up! : Goto10
• 42 : smax
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  I'm beginning to think that those clowns were right, we don't know shit about magnets. Ya ya electromagne... : gakera
  • I think the issue is less "hey we don't know stuff" and more the giant argument from ignorance of "hey we... : DinK
• This guy is a badass. : the city
• So fucking awesome. : Skrynkelberg