What Problems to Solve (1966)

Posted by jxmorris12 6/25/2025

What Problems to Solve (1966)(genius.cat-v.org)

493 points | 61 commentspage 2

agcat 6/25/2025|

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.

amelius 6/26/2025||

> I have worked on innumerable problems that you would call humble, but which I enjoyed and felt very good about because I sometimes could partially succeed. For example, ... [list of many problems] ... Plus all the “grander” problems of quantum theory.

I'm having difficulty understanding what is meant here. Does he intend to say that his student thinks quantum theory is a humble problem?

frumiousirc 6/26/2025||

I don't know what the student thinks but "[list of many problems]" are in some ways less "grand" as they are less about fundamentals of nature compared to the problems in quantum theory. But then Feynman puts "grander" in quotes to reduce its power and imply that "grandness" isn't all that - well - grand. He does this as his advice is that all problems for which you can find solutions are indeed grand problems. That's how I read it.

9dev 6/26/2025||

Part of the point here, IMHO, was to show that Feynman himself worked on numerous problems, even small ones, not just those he is famous for, and sometimes even failing to solve them.

My interpretation is that he is both meaning to say that getting where he is took a lot of patience and hard work, and also that it is on yourself to determine which problems are worth your time. Which are both very important insights to have if you don't want to feel miserable.

alganet 6/25/2025||

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 6/25/2025|

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 6/25/2025||

> to understand 'who am I'

I don't worry much about that. I can be lots of things, change my mind, etc.

divbzero 6/27/2025||

He didn’t mention it in this letter, but in Surely You’re Joking Feynman described how he solved for the motion of plates spinning and wobbling across a cafeteria in Cornell. When his colleague asked what’s the importance of this problem, he responded: “There’s no importance whatsoever. I’m just doing it for the fun of it.”

1vuio0pswjnm7 6/26/2025||

https://web.archive.org/web/20121212063351if_/http://genius....

zzbn00 6/25/2025||

“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

dumdedum123 6/25/2025||

Wow. I didn't know about this letter. It's very inspiring.

mef51 6/25/2025||

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.

quantumgarbage 6/26/2025||

Like anyone, I'm always impressed by geniuses displaying hollywood cliché traits. But that's even more impressive when they are great humans too.

tankenmate 6/26/2025|

Pick a problem that is big enough to matter, and small enough that you can solve it -- and that's pretty cool.

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