{"id":96486,"date":"2023-03-22T17:52:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-22T21:52:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=96486"},"modified":"2023-03-27T13:25:37","modified_gmt":"2023-03-27T17:25:37","slug":"richard-feynman-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/richard-feynman-science\/","title":{"rendered":"Richard Feynman: Science Requires Intellectual Honesty"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>What&#8217;s Richard Feynman&#8217;s approach to science? What should scientists do with doubt? What&#8217;s every scientist&#8217;s responsibility?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Richard Feynman, science is a serious business. Feynman is known for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/have-more-fun\/\">having fun<\/a> and enjoying his work, but he also has a reputation for integrity in his field. In his memoir, he writes about the importance of intellectual honesty and accountability in science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Continue reading to learn Feynman&#8217;s views on the practice and profession of science.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-richard-feynman-on-science\">Richard Feynman on Science<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Richard Feynman, science and math education is especially important in the modern age, and not just because of technological advances. He argues that <strong>understanding math and science requires a level of intellectual honesty that other fields lack.<\/strong> Feynman\u2019s experience in the scientific world shines a light on the value of questioning others, questioning yourself, and having the integrity to admit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/what-if-youre-wrong\/\">when you\u2019re wrong<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first of these principles can best be summed up as <strong>\u201cDon\u2019t take anyone\u2019s word for granted; not even the so-called experts.\u201d<\/strong> Feynman gives the example of a physics paper that was published on a topic that he didn\u2019t fully understand. After Feynman wracked his brain at the topic for a while, his sister suggested that he approach it like a student doing a homework assignment and recheck all of the paper\u2019s math. Doing so\u2014starting <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/thinking-from-first-principles\/\">from first principles<\/a> and working through the paper\u2019s argument for himself\u2014unlocked the puzzle in his mind and even provided him with insights that he was able to apply in his own work.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: Feynman\u2019s dedication to verifying, and thereby understanding, another scientist\u2019s work isn\u2019t unusual. In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/the-structure-of-scientific-revolutions\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>The Structure of Scientific Revolutions<\/em><\/a>, Thomas Kuhn explains that confirming already established conclusions is one of science\u2019s chief intellectual functions. After all, the process by which knowledge is achieved, whether experimental or theoretical (as in the paper Feynman studied), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/the-structure-of-scientific-revolutions\/chapters-2-4#solving-puzzles-through-science\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">is just as important as the end result<\/a>. The fact that there may be multiple routes to achieve specific scientific \u201canswers\u201d is one reason it\u2019s so important for scientists to understand each other\u2019s process, since seeing a problem from another perspective may yield further \u201caha\u201d moments, as Feynman says it did for him.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The research that came from that stroke of insight led Feynman and his colleague Murray Gell-Mann to solve the theoretical problem of beta decay\u2014the process by which subatomic particles emit a particular kind of radiation. Feynman and Gell-Mann\u2019s solution also showed that the results of many beta decay experiments were flawed, which highlights another aspect of Feynman\u2019s thoughts on intellectual honesty: <strong>Good scientists must call attention to any possible doubt about their work.<\/strong> When reporting the results of any experiment or study, it\u2019s crucial to acknowledge any variables, theories, or conditions that might call your conclusions into question. Questioning yourself is an essential part of overcoming your own bias.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: The way that science embraces <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/overcoming-self-doubt\/\">self-doubt<\/a> goes against the grain of how science is taught in schools\u2014namely, <a href=\"https:\/\/medium.com\/age-of-awareness\/most-u-s-schools-are-not-really-teaching-science-69eecbbfa77a\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">as a collection of facts<\/a><em> <\/em>instead of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visionlearning.com\/en\/library\/Process-of-Science\/49\/The-Process-of-Science\/176\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">a process to zero in on objective reality<\/a> while systematically eliminating preconceptions. This disconnect between the process of scientific inquiry and its results can undermine public <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/public-trust-in-science\/\">trust in science<\/a> when <a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.com\/science-facts-from-school-not-true-2019-9#myth-neanderthals-were-dumb-brutes-who-didnt-mingle-with-homo-sapiens-7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">previously known \u201cscientific facts\u201d turn out to be untrue<\/a>. In order to maintain public engagement, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scientificamerican.com\/article\/why-doubt-is-essential-to-science\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the scientific community must be open about its self-questioning nature<\/a>, one that Feynman insists is a fundamental virtue. Otherwise, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.americanscientist.org\/article\/reasonable-versus-unreasonable-doubt\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">scientific doubt can be unethically exploited to shape public opinion<\/a> on matters such as health, pollution, and climate change.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Science, after all, is the process by which you can short-circuit bias to arrive at the truth, but Feynman says it\u2019s every scientist\u2019s job to make sure the system works as advertised. There are two ways to do this: by repeating other scientists\u2019 work to make sure that the same results can be achieved, and by reporting the results of any study you conduct, <em>whether or not they agree with your theories<\/em>. If any field of knowledge doesn\u2019t encourage both of these practices\u2014either by discouraging repeat experiments or hiding contradictory data\u2014then that field is pseudoscience and will remain so until more rigorous standards are established.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: Feynman\u2019s litmus test of \u201crepeatability\u201d is often used by those in the physical sciences <a href=\"https:\/\/www.economist.com\/science-and-technology\/2002\/02\/28\/try-it-and-see\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">to cast doubt on fields such as psychology and sociology<\/a>, in which findings are difficult to quantify or duplicate. A 2017 survey of psychology journals found that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedaily.com\/releases\/2017\/04\/170411104516.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">studies trying to replicate others\u2019 results are actively discouraged<\/a>, making it hard to weed out psychology reports with errors or systemic flaws. These problems are not limited to the so-called \u201csoft sciences,\u201d as <a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.scientificamerican.com\/observations\/to-fix-the-reproducibility-crisis-rethink-how-we-do-experiments\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reproducing experiments has become a growing challenge in fields such as medicine and biology<\/a> that deal with complex, multifaceted systems in which individual variables are almost impossible to single out experimentally.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What&#8217;s Richard Feynman&#8217;s approach to science? What should scientists do with doubt? What&#8217;s every scientist&#8217;s responsibility? According to Richard Feynman, science is a serious business. Feynman is known for having fun and enjoying his work, but he also has a reputation for integrity in his field. In his memoir, he writes about the importance of intellectual honesty and accountability in science. Continue reading to learn Feynman&#8217;s views on the practice and profession of science.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":15467,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,33,160],"tags":[951],"class_list":["post-96486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ethics","category-people","category-science","tag-surely-youre-joking-mr-feynman","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Richard Feynman: Science Requires Intellectual Honesty - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Richard Feynman had fun, but he saw science as a serious business. 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