Richard Feynman and human consciousness

Quote from 58:50 in the video.

Something that struck me that was very curious.

I suspect what goes on in every mans head might be very different, the actual imagery that comes when we are talking to each other. We think we are speaking very well when we are communicating but what we are really doing is having this big translation thing going on translating what this fellow said into our images, which are very different.

I fully believe that the reason that many people still look up to Richard Feynman is that at some point he figured things out to such a degree that most of the computations made inside his mind were correct.

This means that it is likely true that what Richard Feynman believes to be true about the universe and human nature is how things actually are. We can take his word for it and focus our energy on figuring out why.

The man invented the atom bomb and created the most numerically precise theory ever invented, Quantum Electrodynamics that explains the entire universe mathematically. It is likely that his theories of conciousness are also correct.

So his idea is that how we view reality is subjective but the very nature of languages makes it so that we hardly ever notice how differently we see the world.

I think one of the reasons we make art is to solve this problem. We make art to help give other people a glimpse of our view of the world.

Artists thinks it is really important to make art because they want people to see the world as they see it. Because they believe (perhaps rightfully) that if more people viewed the world closer to how they viewed it, the world would become a better place.

You can make an easy experiment that agrees with Feynman. Ask any person to make art.

What you will notice is that the art that every person makes (at least if they aren’t copying someone else and they can handle the use of the material) is unique. The art itself is likely a reflection of their lens of the world, their experience and their current state of mind.

The idea that the lens that we view reality is different for different people is strange to get your head around but it helps explain a lot of confusion in the world.

The only way that every person can believe themselves to be correct would be if our beliefs about the world shapes our perception of the world a lot. We look for stimuli that agrees with our worldview and it is likely that these stimuli are more likely to cross the threshold between the unconscious and conscious mind.

When I started making art, I started seeing art supply stores more. It wasn’t that there weren’t there before, it was that my mind had filtered them out because they weren’t important to me.

So the big question would then be? Is there a right way to view the world?

Yes, I believe there is. When I speak to great scientists, great artists and great engineer they all seem to view the world in a similar way.

Here is how they view it.

They believe it is more important to do actions that are beneficial for the entire human race then actions that are self-serving.

Because when we do actions that help the entire human race (produce art, science or technology that benefit everyone) the benefits are greater than if we simply use our privilege to earn money or help our own tribe.

There’s only one rule that I know of, babies—God damn it, you’ve got to be kind.” -Kurt Vonnegut

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