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Feynman: How to think 1 of 2 FUN TO IMAGINE 11

Christopher Sykes · interview · Watch on YouTube

Consciousness & cognitionPsychology & human behaviorTech pioneers & interviews

What it is

An excerpt from the 1983 BBC series Fun to Imagine in which Richard Feynman describes how he and a mathematician friend counted in their heads in different ways, one verbally and one visually. It shows that people can reach the same goal through quite different mental methods.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN points to it constantly in threads on inner monologue, visual versus verbal thinking and communication as the classic, entertaining demonstration that minds work differently.

  • 5 people recommended it
  • 5 different months
  • 0 strong recommendations
  • first 2011, last 2024

What HN commenters said

  1. “He does a great job of communicating this, despite our interpretive differences.”

    Feynman on how differently people think, communicated well

    joeyespo, 2011-07 · Recommendation · in “Accidental Genius: How To Think”

  2. “For a great subjective description of this watch”

    Great subjective description of thought as abstractions

    Retric, 2012-03 · Recommendation · in “MIT discovers the location of memories: Individual neurons”

  3. “You'll probably enjoy this video with Richard Feynman about how different people think differently even for something as basic as counting.”

    Feynman on how people think differently even when counting.

    DavidVoid, 2018-04 · Recommendation · in “Kubrick found what he wanted by trying things out”

  4. “you should watch this video of richard feynman, who talks about how he thinks "thinking" happens in people”

    Feynman on how thinking happens and why communication is lossy.

    chii, 2019-04 · Recommendation · in “Overview of differential equations [video]”

  5. “I suggest watching the other videos from the same interview. Lots of fun.”

    Feynman's counting experiment shows differing internal thought modes; interview is fun.

    oxplot, 2020-01 · Recommendation · in “Not everyone has an internal monologue”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: richard feynman, cognition, internal monologue, counting, mental imagery

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