I know I've mentioned...
I know I’ve mentioned this blog more than once before – but I’m constantly amazed at the apparent parallels between marketing and technology. Might be something to think about there.
This time he points to an old article by Richard Feynman that I haven’t read for a while.
That is so true. When I hear about something doing something (yes, being purposely very vague here) I want to know more. I hear “X” was “Slow”. I hear that you should do “Y” regularly for reason “A”. I hear “M” is buggy. “N” doesn’t work at all. Always do “L”, “L” is always good. I want to understand the parameters, the method used to arrive at those statements.
Anyway – I liked the short blog entry by Seth Godin and especially the pointer to re-read the paper by Feynman – a must read.
This time he points to an old article by Richard Feynman that I haven’t read for a while.
We've learned from experience that the truth will come out.
Other experimenters will repeat your experiment and find out whether
you were wrong or right.
Other experimenters will repeat your experiment and find out whether
you were wrong or right.
That is so true. When I hear about something doing something (yes, being purposely very vague here) I want to know more. I hear “X” was “Slow”. I hear that you should do “Y” regularly for reason “A”. I hear “M” is buggy. “N” doesn’t work at all. Always do “L”, “L” is always good. I want to understand the parameters, the method used to arrive at those statements.
Anyway – I liked the short blog entry by Seth Godin and especially the pointer to re-read the paper by Feynman – a must read.
posted by Thomas Kyte at 7:12 PM
6 Comments:
Thanks for the Feynman link. I've never read that but a lot of quotes looked familiar from other sources. What a fine piece of writing because it's saying something important that could be made complicated, but drew me in until I now need to hurry up and get ready for work ;-)
Inspirational.
"The first principle is that you must not fool yourself--and you are the easiest person to fool."
I love this quote.
In summary, the idea is to give all of the information to help others to judge the value of your contribution; not just the information that leads to judgement in one particular direction or another.
My favorite sentence in the article. There were others I thought equally good, but that one is my favorite.
Esalen... that comment about the baths brings back memories...
So I have just one wish for you--the good luck to be somewhere where you are free to maintain the kind of integrity I have described, and where you do not feel forced by a need to maintain your position in the organization, or financial support, or so on, to lose your integrity. May you have that freedom.
I don't think anyone has this kind of luxury anymore. The scientific truth is somehow masked in a presentation layer decided by the powers who sign the checks.
thanks thomas for this info
POST A COMMENT
<< Home