FEYNMAN ON GOD

Don't you just hate it when someone gives away the game?

Richard Feynman was a thinking person's thinking person, and always trying to figure things out.

One of those things was God, because so many people had this belief, but not Feynman.

Here's his take on God:

God was invented to explain mystery.

God is always invented to explain those things that you do not understand.

Now, when you finally discover how something works, you get some laws [of science] which you're taking away from God; you don't need him anymore.

But you need him for the other mysteries.

So therefore you leave him to create the universe because we haven't figured that out yet; you need him for understanding those things which you don't believe the laws will explain, such as consciousness, or why you only live to a certain length of time--life and death -- stuff like that.

God is always associated with those things that you do not understand.

Therefore I don't think that the laws can be considered to be like God because they have been figured out.

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Source.

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In the biography called Genius, The Life and Science of Richard Feynman,  James Gleick writes that Feynman maintained that he was comfortable with uncertainty.  Doubt to him represented a healthy skepticism, a willingness to be convinced provided only the proof was good, which is what distinguishes skepticism from cynicism.  Douibt provides an impetus to investigate, to ask intelligent questions, to observe, measure, calculate, etc.  To do science, in other words

Religion, thought Feynman, was a means of providing some assurance of certainty to people who needed reassurance, which is most of us, because who can deal with a tsunami without trying to come up with a comforting explanation, whether the explanation is objectively true or not.  It may not be good science, but it does help you deal with, and survive the ordeal.

What does this have to do with law in general or Con-Law in particular?

Criminal law is based on the idea of reasonable doubt. 

It helps to know what doubt is and how you wish to deal with it.

Con-Law deals with the world as much as physics does, perhaps more, as law stands on the ground, while physics has a tendency to fly off into space these days.  Can you imagine the legal consequences of a U.S. Mars Rover colliding with a Russian Mars Rover, on Mars?

At any rate, Con-Law deals with the subject of religion and science in any number of ways, from freedom of to evolution.  Plus we have the issue of scientific evidence in the courtroom.  See Daubert v. Merrill Dow Pharmaceutical.

Since I've learned so much about the need to investigate with integrity, that is competently, from Feynman, I feel pleased to invite your attention to him, especially if you haven't met him yet.

The book to read to get started on Richard Feynman is entitled:  Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman, Bantam/W.W. Norton, 1985.

What have I learned from Feynman?

The first principle is that you must not fool yourself -- and you are the easiest person to fool.

This appears in Cargo Cult Science, the last chapter of  Surely You're Joking, from an address to young scientists graduating from Cal Tech, where he taught for many years.

People are always trying to fool lawyers, cops, judges, and juries.  You have to be on full alert whenever someone tells you something important to them, or worse, that they think you want to believe.  That's when you most risk tripping over Feynman's First Principle, above.  Sometimes this happens so subtly that you are not even aware of it.  Then you're hooked.

Comments

[XTIAN]

Excellent text. Great quoting and interpration of Feynman word. I'm myself a big fan of R. Feynman. How I wish I could have had an opportunity to talk to him. I always wonder what his last thoughts were...
Thanx a lot for the web! The internet needs more webs like yours.