Maggie's Farm

Enough with the overblown Richard Feynman myth. The problem with the Cargo Cult believers (the John Frum Society) whom Feynman mentioned in his graduation address is not that they were "fooling themselves" or failing to note the failure of their efforts to entice treasure-laden cargo planes back to Vanuatu; in fact they were---apparently systematically---doing everything their primitive "science" or belief system allowed. Their problem is they had no one who could think outside the box and recognize the fallacy in their thinking, and yet Feynman doesn't mention this. Instead he goes off on a rambling, inchoate discourse about integrity in science, blah, blah, blah.

Also enough with effusive praise for Frank Lloyd Wright, the Adolph Hitler of architectural design. Perhaps I've gotten the wrong impression about him, but from what I've read Wright too often disliked the clients he worked for (or else hated the notion he had to work on commission), ignored his clients needs, and imposed his own tastes and impractical designs on them, whether they liked them or not. A good architect is someone who listens to the people he's working for. Donald Trump would have fired him. I'm sure Romney would have fired him. So would I.

Fred, not to put words in your mouth, but perhaps in high school you were more in love with the idea of being in love with physics than the real thing. Texan, Feynman was pretty much in love with himself. His wager with Victor Weisskopf is revealing. He wagered he'd never become an administrator. Good. I suspect he would have made a terrible muddle of it, unlike the always dependable Weisskopf, who was a giant in whatever endeavor he undertook.