Hi Harv,

I think one of the great things about Feynman was that he would admit his own fallibility. He never stood on authority. A strict interpretation of that quote would imply one could do physics without doing math and I am very confident Feynman would not hold that as a valid premise. I think what he meant was that "doing" physics was to "doing" math as sex is to masturbation. The difference between physics and math is that physics requires meaning be put into the symbols and it is exactly that process itself which is the central issue of my paper.

He was the only physicist of note who ever responded to any of my many missives over the years. At the time, he told me that they had requested him for the Challenger investigation. He said that, when he finished that and got caught up with his other work, he would be back in touch with me. The next thing I heard was that he had died of cancer. I think we would still be talking if he had not died.

I am afraid your phobia concerning mathematics puts my thoughts completely beyond your comprehension. If that is not the case, point out an error in the logic of my previous post (as there is no mathematics in that post, lack of knowledge of the subject is not significant).

Have fun -- Dick

• My interpretation of that quote - harvey1 - April 23, 2003 - 20:16 UTC
• Sorry about that! - doctordick - April 24, 2003 - 03:22 UTC
  • Maybe - harvey1 - April 24, 2003 - 03:40 UTC