Feynman gets stopped by a cop. Cop : why were you speeding ? Feynman : what do you mean why ? Half hour later Cop : please just leave me alone

If this man ever talks to toddlers, the conversation will be infinite

Even after speaking on so many topics and fields in a single breath, he came back to original topic. That's an art. Many people tend to forget where they started.

Richard actually forgot why magnets repulse, so he came up with the most elaborate distraction of an explanation to make you forget that you'd even asked.

'Some husbands arent interested in their wives' - Richard Feynman explaining magnetism.

interviewer: "so why is aunt minnie in the hospital?" feynman: "ok so magnets..."

Feynman's wife: why is there lipstick on you neck? Feynman:

This is the greatest version of: "I can explain it, but I'm not sure how much of it you would understand" that anyone has ever said.

Interviewer: Why do magnets repel each other? Feynman: You wouldn‘t get it...

This is how you give your job interviewer an existential crisis.

I have watched this so many times over te years that I almost know it off by heart; and yet, when I bump into it again I cannot resist istening to it yet again.

This is why I LOVE the "Explained In 5 Levels" Series on KZfaq, covering all sorts of different subjects. You get to see the cut off in your own understanding, and the deepening of the explanations as they get more technical, but also the beauty in how complex things arise from simple concepts in a progression of stacking and intertwining knowledge.

Interviewer: "Magnets? How do they work?" Feynman: "Listen...hospitals..."

I just had an epiphany. This is why young kids ask "why?" over and over. They don't have the framework with which to understand the answer that those with more experience understand intuitively.

I did my undergraduate science degree at Oxford the unique system there is based on weekly tutorials with your tutor and a relatively few lectures and laboratory practical. Every week you are asked to write an essay on a topic you have not studied before and the tutor marks it and you discuss for an hour. I say 'discuss but your tutor is quite possibly someone like Richard Feynman and after three or four years of being exposed to that EVERY week all I can say is what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Academic people like Richard Feynman can go from asking the most annoyingly and intensely frustratingly simple question to blowing your mind in 3 minutes. Ask a question so simple a mere mortal (or undergraduate) can't understand why its even being asked and then suddenly reveal to them that everything they thought they understood has been torn apart along with their essay. Its a level of intelligence and thinking which is extraordinary as this clip shows.

I bet at first the interviewer felt ashamed for asking the question, but after few minutes of Feynman giving this EPIC speech, he couldn't have felt any better about asking it :D

If he had only asked him why ice is slippery, he might have found out more about how magnets work.

Interviewer: Why? Feynman: I'm boutta end this whole man's career

i could literally listen to this guy speak for hours and never get bored.

I've heard of him, but I had no idea I would be such huge fan of him from one video. The title of the video is perfect.

"Sir, this is a McDonald's drive-thru...."

Imagine him at a job interview.

This man just verbally described every experience I've ever had with wikipedia over the last 15 years.

He *actually answered* the question ( electrical forces ) but he stated "I can not answer your question..." because in a truly genius way he limited the scope of the answer to the understanding capacity of the receiver. There is nothing bad here. He is not meaning the receiver can not understand, it is the old paradigm of the kid that is trying to fill up the hole in the beach with the ocean. No matter how many buckets of sea water the ocean will be in his position and the hole empty... Still the kid will keep trying and truly remarkable teachers like Feynman will point out *why* the whole is still empty...

Teacher: Why did you forget homework!? Me: See, when you ask why something happens....

Your mind doesn't have the packages installed required to run this explanation.

I could listen to this man for hours. The way he sees and describes the world is just so incredibly unique. I guess this is how a super intelligent alien would have answered that question. Never take anything for granted, always stay curious. 😊

An ordinary man is eager to tell you what he knows. An extraordinary man goes to great lengths to tell you what he doesn't know. By the time he is done, you know 10x more than what you asked for.

2 lessons I perceive: 1. Asking "why" allows to start on the journey of discovery 2. Discovery ends only when the observer decides that they are done searching

Imagine him answering the question: "Why do you want to work for our company?"

"No Aunt Minnie were harmed in the making of this video."

At 6:35 he gets so excited about his own epiphany connecting restorative force and electric attraction. This man never really prepared in advance exactly what he was going to say he just rolled it out in his own ad lib ingenious way. Beautiful.

come here to learn about magnets. left with an anxiety attack and an existential crisis.

"Why" HIm: "And I took that personally."

Excellent answer with so many beautiful analogies ♥️

I wasn't "feeling so good", but this put a big smile on my face. :)

Interviewer: So why did Aunt Minnie go to the hospital? Feynman: Ok so magnets...

Me: Hey Richard, what day is it? Him: Well, first you have to understand what a day is.

This is brilliant, I keep coming back to this one to, most people seem not interested or devote the time to understanding the deeper meaning to fundamental questions, rather want quick answer to satisfy limited understanding.

I absolutely adore Richard Feynman. I've read his autobiographies of the time he was at Los Alamos, the death of his first wife, Brazil learning to play bongos and drums, Professor at Cal Tech, to discovering how an O Ring was responsible for the 1986 Challenger's mid air explosion, and his passing. I know simple mathematics, that's it. Quantum Physics is a foreign language. However because of Richard teaching and sharing stories, I understand it on a non verbal level... If that makes any sense. Love him. 💖

"Your aunt Minnie is in the hospital." - Feynman on magnetism

His last question to himself: "WHY did I ask him this?!!"

Now I know why my toddler has so many WHY questions as the resulting answer helps him understand much more about the world around him.. Many of these facts are fascinating to him while grownups are so used to it, they really don't care..

In the recent movie Oppenheimer, this guy was played by Hughie from The Boys.

Imagine a world with more teachers like this man. I wish I had teachers like him.

It's so neat how he detected the interviewer getting defensive and calmed him by saying "No, it's an excellent question!"

Blessings come from a generous heart. Those who give are the most blessed.

My father was the same.He would start with a subject,jump from that to a second one ,third one,forth one etc.,and finally after 15 minutes he will come back and explain the first one.Drove me crazy.

Interviewer: Why... Feynman: First of all, that's incorrect.

Interviewer: "Why must you give a long lecture on why?" Feynman: "So you have chosen death."

My learnings The importance of curiosity: Richard Feynman emphasizes the value of curiosity and questioning the world around us. He believes that asking why is essential to understanding how things work. The need for a framework: Feynman suggests that to explain why something happens, we need to have a framework that allows us to accept certain things as true. Without this framework, we can fall into an infinite loop of questioning. Understanding complexity: Feynman acknowledges that the world is a complex place, and explaining why something happens is not always straightforward. It may require digging deeper and exploring various directions. Question everything: Don't accept things at face value. Always ask questions and seek to understand how things work. Have a framework: To explain why something happens, develop a framework that allows you to accept certain things as true. Go deeper: When you get an answer to a why question, don't stop there. Ask why again, and keep digging deeper to gain a more profound understanding. Imagine yourself as an explorer in a vast jungle. You come across a beautiful waterfall and wonder how it was created. To understand the waterfall's origin, you must first develop a framework that allows you to accept certain things as true. You understand that water flows downhill, and it takes a long time for a river to erode rock and create a waterfall. You then start asking why questions. Why does water flow downhill? Why does it take a long time for a river to erode rock? As you delve deeper, you begin to discover the complexity of the natural world. You learn about gravity, erosion, and the forces that shape our planet. start by cultivating your curiosity. Ask questions and seek to understand how things work. Develop a framework that allows you to accept certain things as true. When you get an answer to a why question, don't stop there. Keep digging deeper to gain a more profound understanding. For example, if you're learning about a new subject, don't just memorize facts. Try to understand why things work the way they do. Ask questions and explore different angles. By doing so, you'll gain a deeper understanding and be able to apply that knowledge in new and creative ways. Everything in the universe is governed by fundamental forces, including electrical, magnetic, and gravitational forces. These forces are intertwined and intimately related to each other. The behavior of these forces can be explained and predicted using scientific principles and laws. Tactics: Study and understand the principles and laws governing the forces. Observe and experiment to test and validate these principles and laws. Apply the principles and laws to solve real-world problems and create new technologies. Metaphoric Map: Think of the principles and laws governing the forces as a map that guides us through the complexities of the universe. Just as a map helps us navigate and understand a physical landscape, the principles and laws help us navigate and understand the invisible forces that govern the behavior of matter and energy. Learn the basic principles and laws governing the forces through studying physics and other related fields. Practice observing and experimenting to test and validate these principles and laws. Apply these principles and laws to solve real-world problems, such as developing new technologies that use magnetic or electrical forces, or designing structures that can withstand gravitational forces.

This is a WONDERFUL insight into Feynman's integrity and thought

I can’t explain that magnetic attraction in terms of anything that’s familiar to you

*Gives Richard a snicker bar* Feynman: "I see, it turns out I was just hungry."

Marvelous! What an extraordinary man he was.

This is a concentrate, illustrated and elaborate course of scientific methodology. I just love it 💕💕😍🤩💓🤩😍💕💕

me : why didn't you recommend this video sooner!? youtube: ok, so semiconductors.. . .

this is exactly the kind of depth I wanted to hear as a kid ^^

Thats just beautiful ❤️

He was an artist in explaining very basic things ❤

I agree. When most people answer "why" questions, they are actually answering "how" at a superficial level.

Nevermind bro, I will just google it

A simple question that results in such an elaborate series of other questions. Simple in its own genius to elicit a shockwave of analysis from a recognised genius.

At the end of the video i was like "May the force be with you master." Great man, Feynman is !

This is why children get stuck in the "why" loop. It's the question that can't be answered.

My mom : Why are you home this late? I can't explain why in any terms familiar to you. *shoe thrown at me*

Yeah that’s really a good way to look at things. Once one questioned is answered, what other questions arise after it to truly understand the full picture. I try to do this constantly with things I talk to myself about

This is the best answer to a 'why' question i have ever seen. His final answer at the end is humbling - "I really can't do a good job, any job, in terms of explaining it in terms of something else that you are more familiar with, because i don't understand it in terms of anything else you are more familiar with"

Wife to Husband: "Does this dress make me look fat?" Richard Feynman: "Don't worry I got this bro."

Feynman's ability to instantly delve deeply into the topic of "Why' with so many examples that are immediately relatable is really quite remarkable. He takes what seems to be on the surface a simple question and expounds on it to an extraordinarly deep level. He really was quite a fascinating person to listen to.

“If you can’t explain it to a 6 year old you don’t understand it yourself” - Albert Einstein

i recently had to help a cousin of mine with his 6th grade project on magnets i was writing an introduction to how magnets work and it was super difficult to explain without talking about electron spins and orbitals and domains of a material... i resonate with what he said alot especially when he talked about cheating the answer with an anology. rip richard

When my daughter was about 2 years old, she went through a phase of asking "why" constantly. I would answer each question as best as I could, then she would ask another "why?", often to statements that were self-evident for me and everyone else. Seeing that video helped understand that she has a totally different framework than mine - she knows nothing about the world so everything needs to be explained to the most basic level. It would go on until she would have an answer that she understands in her framework or until she would not understand the words I was saying: "The car is white" - why? "hmm Because someone painted it white" - why? "Because I asked them to paint it white when I bought it" - why? "Because I like the color white, just like you like purple!" -oh... ok...

Finally someone who gets straight to the point!

Humble Honest. A true genius of our time. R. I. P

i have waited my entire life for this video. thank you.

Imagine being his son and asking him where do babies come from.

Brilliant. I will use this approach to answer my 5 year-old nephews' 'why' questions going forward.

I met a guy years ago who refused to answer “why” questions. It was one of my favorite things I ever learned from someone.

He didn't just answer the raw question. He expanded my knowledge any provided me with entertainment. This is a great man

Sagan: There are no stupid questions. Feynman: Why?

Basically what he's saying is that he can't answer "why" magnets repel each other because giving you a definitive answer would not be truthful. There are so many things you need to understand and theories you need to accept as true to understand "why" magnets repel each other. And that's literally what scientists spend their whole lives doing. So unless you want to be a scientist and study physics, you just need to accept the known nature of magnetism. And this is why I love this guy so much. He purposely went on all those tangents and drew out the "answer" so long to demonstrate the fact that such a simple question only begets more and more questions, some of which we can't answer truthfully yet. It's not meant to insult the interviewer or anyone else, but only to illustrate how amazing science is and how much more we still have to learn. People who are fascinated by everything he said here may be encouraged to further their study of science. Everyone else will just go, "oh...okay..." and quickly accept that magnets repel each other because it's cool and sciency.

With 12,000 comments I'm sure whatever I had to say was already said. So I'm just going to go with thank you for the time and effort you put into this video, thumbs up.

This non explanation reminds me of that quote that goes something like 'if you can't explain something simply you don't understand it very well.'

3rd grade Teacher to Feynman on an English test: "What color was the balloon?" "What do you mean by what color? Color is a refractive index of light. Color is an illusion. You might as well ask me why sugar is sweet and salt is salty. That's a great question, let me explain. But first, tell you where taste actually comes from. It's an electro-neurological stimulus...." *5 pages later* "Anyway, I can't tell you what color it was because you don't know anything."

Wow! I mean, it's not just his explanation that is impressive, it's his ability to understand a question better than the person asking the question. He sees the inner workings of the mind of the interviewer, understands his motivation, notices a flaw or weakness in that mind and then sets out to repair or awaken that mind in that very precise and almost ruthless way of his!

nice of him to explain every conversation with my niece.. Why is the most fundemental question we humans have.

This has gotten me in trouble my ENTIRE LIFE. Asking a question can and becomes SO LOADED with so many intricacies that NO QUESTION is an EASY OR SIMPLE QUESTION

"You have to be in some framework that you allow something to be true. Otherwise you're perpetually asking why". What a great great neuron connections.

"I can't explain that attraction in terms of anything else that's familiar to you." That sums it up well.

I regularly come here for my peace of mind.

Great Video! Love it!

He truly was a fine man.

This is actually an incredibly useful exercise in limiting the scope of a question. "How" and "why" questions have answers that are entirely defined by the expected knowledge of the *questioner,* just as much as that of the answerer. Notice how Feynman _did_ answer the question to various levels of satisfaction as a component of his overall criticism of asking unbounded questions.

Man gave the most honest answer. "Basically its just a property of reality. And if I try explaining beyond that, you won't understand because I can't really compare it to anything at hand"

The interviewer is feeling how I felt as a kid when I asked the teacher, "can I go to the bathroom"....

It would be a very bad idea to ask him what day is today.

It’s always so nice to listen to a clear mind

that's just brillian - I'll be sending this video to everybody who asks me complex stuff that I cannot explain in simple words

He's telling the interviewer "I could explain it but you wouldn't understand"