>Richard walked in, saluted, and said, "Richard Feynman reporting for duty. OK, boss, what's my assignment?" The assembled group of not-quite-graduated MIT students was astounded.
> After a hurried private discussion ("I don't know, you hired him..."), we informed Richard that his assignment would be to advise on the application of parallel processing to scientific problems.
> "That sounds like a bunch of baloney," he said. "Give me something real to do."
> So we sent him out to buy some office supplies.
I love this bit. There's the aspect that everyone mentions, how Feynman is happy to do something as seemingly menial as get office supplies, despite his qualifications.
But the students' reaction is also fun to think about. Like if a regular working guy was given a million dollars, and his first reaction was "man, what am I going to do with this?" It takes him a while to realise what new opportunities he has.
And then I imagine that Feynman recognises this reaction in them, and enjoys watching it. It's a form of good-natured teasing.
I don't know if the actual thought processes were anything like this. But I like to think they were.
Chores like this are a good time for multitasking. You can sit and stare out the window and think, or you can walk to the store and buy office supplies and think. In the second case, you've done two things at once; spent some time thinking, and got your office supplies.
My apartment is very clean because I like to do something while I am thinking. Cleaning involves no thought on its own, and it's nice to not see any messes. For me anyway.
Comments
>Richard walked in, saluted, and said, "Richard Feynman reporting for duty. OK, boss, what's my assignment?" The assembled group of not-quite-graduated MIT students was astounded.
> After a hurried private discussion ("I don't know, you hired him..."), we informed Richard that his assignment would be to advise on the application of parallel processing to scientific problems.
> "That sounds like a bunch of baloney," he said. "Give me something real to do."
> So we sent him out to buy some office supplies.
I love this bit. There's the aspect that everyone mentions, how Feynman is happy to do something as seemingly menial as get office supplies, despite his qualifications.
But the students' reaction is also fun to think about. Like if a regular working guy was given a million dollars, and his first reaction was "man, what am I going to do with this?" It takes him a while to realise what new opportunities he has.
And then I imagine that Feynman recognises this reaction in them, and enjoys watching it. It's a form of good-natured teasing.
I don't know if the actual thought processes were anything like this. But I like to think they were.
Chores like this are a good time for multitasking. You can sit and stare out the window and think, or you can walk to the store and buy office supplies and think. In the second case, you've done two things at once; spent some time thinking, and got your office supplies.
My apartment is very clean because I like to do something while I am thinking. Cleaning involves no thought on its own, and it's nice to not see any messes. For me anyway.