Feynman On Not Knowing

in #feynman8 years ago



I was trying to think of something to post about tonight and was having a bit of a struggle. I kinda want to post at least once a day, but I don't want to post any old rubbish either (I have muted many people for spamming in the last week.) I also wanted to give H.L Mencken a rest as he does great over on Facebook but struggles a bit over here at the moment. I was just about ready to give up when I saw this Richard Feynman quote that I hadn't seen before.  It sums up how I've come to view the world, especially over the last couple of years after climbing down the conspiracy rabbit hole and then clawing my way back out and changing a lot of deeply held beliefs at the same time.

“I think it's much more interesting to live not knowing than to have answers which might be wrong. I have approximate answers and possible beliefs and different degrees of uncertainty about different things, but I am not absolutely sure of anything and there are many things I don't know anything about, such as whether it means anything to ask why we're here. I don't have to know an answer. I don't feel frightened not knowing things, by being lost in a mysterious universe without any purpose, which is the way it really is as far as I can tell, possibly. It doesn't frighten me.”


Images from Clipartpanda and izquotes.