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[HN Gopher] What Problems to Solve (1966)
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What Problems to Solve (1966)
Author : jxmorris12
Score : 345 points
Date : 2025-06-25 17:08 UTC (12 hours ago)
web link (genius.cat-v.org)
w3m dump (genius.cat-v.org)
| NortySpock wrote:
| This was a beautiful letter to read, with a simple piece of
| wisdom about life, spelled out for the student.
|
| I am grateful that this was submitted to Hacker News, and that I
| was able to read it.
| mef51 wrote:
| I read this letter for the first time many years ago when I was
| in my physics undergrad and thinking about starting grad school.
| It still crosses my mind pretty often as a postdoc.
| megaloblasto wrote:
| _You are not nameless to me. Do not remain nameless to yourself -
| it is too sad a way to be._
| FredPret wrote:
| > "...Do not remain nameless to yourself - it is too sad a way to
| be. now (sic) your place in the world and evaluate yourself
| fairly, not in terms of your naive ideals of your own youth, nor
| in terms of what you erroneously imagine your teacher's ideals
| are..."
|
| Wise words
| dumdedum123 wrote:
| Wow. I didn't know about this letter. It's very inspiring.
| b0a04gl wrote:
| read this right after fighting with a timezone bug in a prompt
| chain. that line about solving what you can felt somehow weirdly
| the emotional mirror of dealing with race conditions in
| distributed systems. everything's async, global, flaky but you
| can only reason locally. idk why my neurons went this way, but
| kinda clicks in a way to me atleast
| cocoa19 wrote:
| This echoes what I have thought about my career. What to work on.
|
| I've been blessed to have a good paying career in software
| engineering, but I've never really felt passionate about the
| products I work on. At the end of the day, my job is a paycheck.
| I do feel joy solving problems for others, improve society, be
| able to answer colleagues questions when they "come to my
| office". My family is happy that I can provide and that I am a
| role model for them.
|
| I sometimes think I should work on things that make me happier.
| Sometimes I think that my career path is a mistake, I should work
| on problems "closer to god", make more meaningful contributions,
| build the next Kubernetes/ChatGPT/Google/<insert revolutionary
| product>, advance AI, climate change. I end giving up, I'm not
| that ambitious or driven.
|
| I'm important to my family and colleagues. That may be good
| enough.
| nh23423fefe wrote:
| The vast majority of human existence from million years ago to
| now is toil. I don't spend anytime feeling bad about being well
| compensated at an air conditioned office working on CRUD.
| apples_oranges wrote:
| Perhaps it's not ambition or drive but just curiosity. ,,I
| wonder if we can ..." -type of thinking.
| jebarker wrote:
| I'm in a similar career situation and I am trying to beat my
| ego into submission to adopt a similar mindset
| meristohm wrote:
| In keeping with the list preceding "climate change", consider
| changing it to:
|
| "...advance AI, change climate."
| jona777than wrote:
| > That may be good enough.
|
| I would argue it is.
|
| I have had discussions with peers recently around doing the big
| flash-y <insert revolutionary product>. An interesting analogy
| surfaced. The nuts in the studs of the infrastructure of the
| many structurally sound homes in existence are just as
| important (meaningful) as the doors, windows, and more flash-y
| features. They may be _more_ important in some cases. They all
| make up the home.
|
| It made me realize it might not be all about maximizing
| ambitious pursuits. Maybe it is more about experiencing the joy
| of solving the next problem and the fulfillment that comes from
| simply being needed pretty regularly.
| nevertoolate wrote:
| I was surprised that after "closer to god" comes the "build the
| next kubernetes". How do you connect these two things?
|
| E.g. I've found the "closer to god" in my yoga practice. And
| how I now realize that through words I can't connect that much
| as through practice (e.g. just eating my lunch being fully
| present). I still think I can help through my software product
| building skills, but also know that if I can help people find a
| more joyful life / build a less painful body is closer to my
| purpose than "only" building software.
| William_BB wrote:
| It depends on what "working on those problems" means to you. If
| you want to work on those problems as a software engineer, that
| sounds like an achievable goal.
|
| To me, the interesting, fulfilling bits of building the next
| Google/ChatGPT/AI/climate change lie in the theory. Arguably
| with the exception of Kubernetes, this theory does not come
| from software engineering. As much as I enjoy software
| engineering, it's a trade. It's a tool to get the job done. And
| recently, I realized I like building things just as much as I
| like "the theory".
|
| To me, that was a bitter pill to swallow. I'm not an ML
| engineer, but I suspect this is also the reason why you can
| find so many posts about ML engineers trying to pivot to ML
| scientist roles.
| alganet wrote:
| His words and advice are truly inspiring and I agree with him.
|
| However, things have changed a lot. Nowadays we're bombarded with
| ideas and incredible "opportunities" of stuff we can make. It's
| almost like ideas are shoved into people's heads.
|
| So, I have to add to Mr. Feynman's words an update:
|
| _Be sure that the thing you want to solve is really the thing YOU
| want to solve_
|
| This is specially true for software development and closed
| platforms. Sometimes, software vendors have this way of making
| developers work for free for things they won't get back, ever.
| They'll do conferences, and attract people, and show you all
| those nice tools you can use to solve problems (as long as you
| use their paid platform).
|
| Don't fall for that shit. Remember Twitter and Reddit closing
| their APIs, platforms being discontinued, companies cannibalizing
| successful apps by independent developers. Those people wanted to
| solve problems, and they got scammed.
| smath wrote:
| I agree. IMO understanding what one really wants to work on,
| leads to an important line of philosophical questioning to
| understand 'who am I'. There is a surprising amount of clutter
| and external influence in our minds.
| alganet wrote:
| > to understand 'who am I'
|
| I don't worry much about that. I can be lots of things,
| change my mind, etc.
| karussell wrote:
| Thanks a lot for posting this. I highly recommend having a look
| into the mentioned flexagons. This is a child toy where Feynman
| laid the mathematical background and it is very fascinating toy
| which you can easily build yourself. Try it out - it is really
| fun. No child required except yourself :)
| nashashmi wrote:
| > You will get the pleasure of success, and of helping your
| fellow man, even if it is only to answer a question in the mind
| of a colleague less able than you.
|
| > innumerable problems that you would call humble, but which I
| enjoyed and felt very good about because I sometimes could
| partially succeed.
|
| > You met me at the peak of my career when I seemed to you to be
| concerned with problems close to the gods.
|
| As problem solvers, we need encouragement to face the
| difficulties that lie in exploring problems. We need to believe
| that it can be solved but more so that _WE /I_ can solve it. We
| need to raise our egos to healthy amounts (not sure what is the
| precise definition of healthy) so we don't back down or give up.
| And Mr. Feynman alludes to this with "the pleasure of success",
| "helping your fellow man", "answer a question in the mind of a
| colleauge", "I enjoyed ... because I sometimes could partially
| succeed", and "problems close to the gods".
|
| I am exploring (and absolutely denouncing) this egotism for it
| leads to frustration, disconnection, illusion, entitlement, and
| shielding. I feel that (good) school/university/work environments
| raise ego levels (with "good job!") and aloof you from _........
| (which is a utopian place with a healthy encouragement to do more
| work and work harder to a point where it does not overwhelm you).
|
| The identify of this _........ place keeps occuring to me and
| flees from me as quickly as it occurs to me. If there is anyone
| who works without ego, please let me know.
| rusk wrote:
| Original sin mate. We must suffer an appreciation of the divine
| while being simultaneously unable to fulfill it. Accept you
| humanity and be kind to yourself about it.
| agcat wrote:
| This is a great post. Totally resonate with the thought of
| solving something that gives you the "win" feeling and it doesn't
| matter whether its small.
| CommenterPerson wrote:
| Thanks for posting this. Wonderful letter.
| tolerance wrote:
| Highly off-topic. But I just want to inform you all that the only
| entry for Rob Pike on this web page under "texts" is a cheese
| cake recipe.
| zzbn00 wrote:
| "studying the Coherence theory with some applications to the
| propagation of electromagnetic waves through turbulent
| atmosphere... a humble and down-to-earth type of problem." ->
| Ended up being a very important (and largerly solvable!) problem
| in ground-based astronomy
| StochasticLi wrote:
| In 1 sentence: Do the opposite of trying to solve the Collatz
| conjecture.
| blks wrote:
| Sad that he was a jerk and inspired a bunch of students trying to
| be smart jerks. Did a lot of important research.
| kunley wrote:
| _citation needed_
| bbkane wrote:
| I can't comment on the behavior of his students, but his ex-
| wife told the FBI that Feynman flew into violent rages and
| choked her on several occasions ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wi
| ki/Richard_Feynman#Personal_and_p... ). I've always felt a
| bit queasy on reading that.
| rixed wrote:
| Interesting link.
|
| Another quote from that same link, from that same hateful
| person whose first grievance was that Feynman was just
| interested in calculations and playing the drum :
| "I do not know--but I believe that Richard Feynman is
| either a Communist or very strongly pro-Communist--and as
| such is a very definite security risk."
|
| I had read many books from and about Feynman, probably even
| more than the average HNer; first time I encounter such a
| claim. I do not believe in heroes and like to have my
| beliefs questioned, but in this instance I will still stand
| with Feynman. This case does not look like it is about
| violence.
| Conscat wrote:
| Are you serious?
| kunley wrote:
| I am. Are you?
| renhanxue wrote:
| Astrophysicist Angela Collier's video essay "the sham legacy
| of Richard Feynman" [0] is a good introduction. Her accounts
| of her own encounters with "Feynman bros" are heart-
| wrenching.
|
| [0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwKpj2ISQAc
| rixed wrote:
| She seems to have missed the real reason why Feynman became
| so "popular": his series of textbooks. Maybe his name is
| not associated with such historical discoveries as those of
| Newton, Boltzmann or Einstein are, but writing one of the
| best textbook series is also a good reason to be famous, at
| least for as long as the content will remain relevant.
| Feynman, to me, is the American Landau: A mathematical and
| scientific genius whose immensely valuable legacy consists
| of teaching and textbooks rather than any novel
| breakthrough in theory.
|
| Apart if you want more clicks on YouTube, I don't think
| it's fair to call him a sham, unless you believe every
| popularity is a sham, but I don't think it's the case being
| made here.
| sky2224 wrote:
| Man while Feynman was a genius, I think it's underappreciated
| just how articulate and philosophical he was. I've always loved
| reading his work because he just knew how to say things the right
| way.
|
| This letter really allows that side of him to shine through.
| m463 wrote:
| He could would shrink the complex into something that could fit
| in even my head.
|
| I like this one:
|
| _This particle is a perfect ball bearing that can move at a
| single speed in one of six directions._
|
| from "Feynman the Explainer" in:
|
| https://longnow.org/essays/richard-feynman-connection-machin...
|
| also:
|
| _" Don't say `reflected acoustic wave.' Say [echo]." Or,
| "Forget all that `local minima' stuff. Just say there's a
| bubble caught in the crystal and you have to shake it out."
| Nothing made him angrier than making something simple sound
| complicated._
| hammock wrote:
| That is the main reason why he is appreciated imo
| dang wrote:
| Related. Others?
|
| _What Problems to Solve_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8030010 - July 2014 (45
| comments)
| svat wrote:
| _Do not remain nameless to yourself (1966)_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23808400 - July 2020 (123
| comments)
| bravesoul2 wrote:
| Beautiful. Tear to my eye!
|
| I think this is a rare mix of deep humanity and intellectual
| thinking in one essay.
|
| Lol then... I saw who wrote it!
|
| Good advice for all HN. Often you see a comment and bio shows an
| amazing career. However they couldnt be amazing without rest of
| us being average (average of something...). Can't have a max
| without a median.
| rendall wrote:
| I read this letter and then immediately read another discussion
| on HN, _A new pyramid-like shape always lands the same side up_
|
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44381297
| godelski wrote:
| > No problem is too small or too trivial if we can really do
| something about it.
|
| I think we often forget this. Especially in our fast paced world
| and career. But often it is the little things which are hard to
| get right and also the things that create the most problems.
|
| I think we try to think we can predict what are important
| problems and what are not. Sometimes this is easy and we're
| right, but often we aren't. This is true in math, physics, and
| computer science. In any domain. So do what you like because you
| never really know. Plus, they say interest is worth an extra 10
| IQ points.
|
| From all my reading of Feynman I think there's one thing he'd
| stress: have fun. To never lose the creativity, that child like
| wonder. In CS we got here because we loved to play around and
| hack. I hope we never lose that.
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