Belief Makers

Have you ever read the book, Surely, You're Joking Mr. Feynman?, Adventures of a Curious Character? It's a wonderful book written by Richard P. Feynman, a Nobel prize winning physicist who, among other things, worked on the Manhattan project (the world war two project that gave us the atomic bomb.)

I love the book because Feynman is so clear and unabashed in looking at how he and others operate. In one instance, he talks about participating as a pallbearer in the funeral of a "friend" he couldn't remember having known only to find out that he hadn't known him. Feynman had been mistaken for someone else and asked to participate in the "friend's" funeral. Not wanting to admit that he couldn't place the person who had died, he simply traveled to the funeral and participated.

No Physics in Brazil
At one point, Feynman traveled to Brazil as part of a US State Department sponsored exchange program in which American scientists spent a year abroad teaching in foreign universities. Feynman had wanted to learn Samba, so he thought it was a great idea.

As he read the physics textbook and interacted with the students, it became clear that the students were learning physics by memorizing it. When he asked questions as they had been phrased in the text book, the students would answer quickly and correctly. For example, were he to ask, "What is Brewster's Angle?", the students could respond correctly with something like "Brewster's Angle is the angle at which light reflected from a medium with an index of refraction is completely polarized."

However, if he were to ask the same question in terms of it's application or generically, they would be completely stumped. As the class that Feynman was teaching was the university's most advanced course in electricity and magnetism, and as the students had already taken many other classes, and as most of the students would themselves become teachers, Feynman became quite concerned about the future of physics in Brazil. What happens when the physics teachers themselves don't understand physics?

As Feynman pursued his concerns, he discovered that he was too late. At the end of the academic year, he was asked by the students to give a talk about his experiences teaching in Brazil. To a crowded lecture hall that included students, professors, government officials and even the author of the physics text, Feynman announced, "The main purpose of my talk is to demonstrate to you that no science is being taught in Brazil!"

I'll let you read the book to get the details, but quickly paraphrased, Feynman determined that the root cause for this phenomenon could be traced to the motivation for learning physics. The government and academic institutions had invested heavily in physics education because "civilized countries" have strong programs in physics and because they wanted to be second to none in education. The students were motivated by getting degrees and prestigious positions. No one was motivated by the utility of science, or its contribution to the improvement of the human condition, etc.

Two of a Kind
Yesterday morning, I was talking to Mark K and my dad, Lee, both of whom had come to our place for Thanksgiving. As we talked, I began noticing remarkable similarities between Mark and Lee.

Both Mark and Lee are quite intelligent by traditional standards, Mark with a degree from University of Michigan and Lee, MIT. Both Mark and Lee struggle with "addictions", Mark with food, and Lee with alcohol. Both associate their lapses in sobriety with episodes of depression. Both, attribute their depression to boredom (yes, boredom). Both, look outside themselves for solutions. Both answer question about themselves with references to what others have said or written. Both, thankfully, seem not to tire (or at least not quickly tire) of my questions and my "annoying" ability to structure concepts in real time and then argue them.

At one point, Lee stopped me to triumphantly explain that the American Medical Association (AMA) considers alcoholism to be a disease. I had been talking about our ability to address challenges like addiction, etc. through changes to our belief systems and how changing our beliefs changes our minds (physically and figuratively). Lee decided that I was full of crap and that he could prove it by his AMA reference.

For me, Lee's statement felt like a stack of unexpected Christmas presents. It was so wrong in so many ways and so telling about how Lee thinks that I simply didn't know where to start. I thought about how doctors nowadays are actually starting to recognize how artificial the mind/body distinction is and how any AMA reference to something other than that must be outdated. I thought about asking, "What do you mean by 'disease'?"... or, "Why do you believe it simply because it showed up in an AMA article?"... or, "OK, let's say it's a disease, so what?"

And then it occurred to me. Lee is an electrical engineer and a mathematician. He's a scientist who learned empirical methods. He likes to solve problems and spent his career doing so. I can remember him telling me as a kid that doctors have terrible diagnostic skills because they are taught through memorization. They learn names for things, they read articles on things and studies have shown that they tend to be able to diagnose only those maladies that they've either seen before or read about. If it's something truly new or something that is presented in a really different way, they're usually stumped.

With his AMA reference, Lee had switched sides! He was now in the learn-by-memorizing camp! So, with so many potential questions, I asked him about when he'd changed his opinion on the analytic and diagnostic skills of doctors. He replied, "We're done! I don't want to talk about this any more!"

A Memorization Pandemic
This morning, as I thought about Mark and Lee and their seemingly endless struggles with food and alcohol, it occurred to me that it might all go back to what Feynman wrote about physics in Brazil. Mark and Lee have each participated in three to four times as many programs at the Option Institute as either Iris or I have. Mark and Lee have both benefited significantly from those programs. Yet, in many instances, Mark and Lee don't seem to understand the underlying concepts and principles.

When I say, "Don't understand", I'm not saying that I disagree with their interpretation of the concepts; I'm saying that Mark and Lee can't explain what they themselves interpret the concepts to mean or how they apply.

Then it occurred to me that Mark and Lee may represent a pervasive challenge, not just in regard to the Option Philosophy, but generally. Could it be that any number of institutions have become completely bereft of understanding? Consider the US Congress or any number of failed financial institutions or the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) or the AMA or the NEA (National Educational Association). When I read or hear different things said by representatives of these and other organizations, I often think to myself, "Hmmm... they don't seem to understand what they're talking about! What they're saying feels like a cut-and-paste job based on articles and reports written by others. There are gaps in their logic."

Feynman eventually concluded that no one in Brazil actually understood physics writing, "I knew the system was bad, but 100 percent--it was terrible!"

Could it be that we're experiencing this elsewhere?

Do You Understand?
I believe that there is a pervasive trend towards cut-and-paste thinking. Wikis. Sound bytes. Platitudes. Mottoes. Bumper stickers. Pop songs. So and so says... You name it.

I also believe that simply accepting cut-and-paste opinions, or adopting them as our own, dramatically limits us and how we address challenges.

Have you found yourself "stuck" in a particular challenge despite all that you've learned about the Option Philosophy? It could be that you simply don't have an understanding of it.

The easiest way to tell is to find someone who is real stickler for clarity and specificity and explain the concepts to them. If you both walk away feeling satisfied, then you probably have an understanding of what you believe. If not, well...

Have you been making decisions in your life simply because of what you've read or heard the "experts" say? When provided an expert opinion on a challenge (financial, medical, automotive, educational), do you simply go with what you've been told assuming that it's above your head, or do you go for understanding?

What about your kids? Do the people who are teaching them understand what they're teaching, or did they read a book about it last summer? Are your kids learning through memorization?

If you haven't read it, I strongly recommend Mr. Feynman's book. It's a quick read. It's entertaining. It can really change how you think!

Labels: all blogs, education, mark tuomenoksa, philosophy