There is a computer disease that anybody who works with computers knows about. It's a very serious disease and it interferes completely with the work. The trouble with computers is that you 'play' with them!
Interpretation
This quote humorously addresses the tendency of people to treat computers as toys, which can disrupt serious work.
Richard P. Feynman's quote highlights a lighthearted observation about how engaging with computers can sometimes lead to distractions, resembling a 'disease' where people forget their tasks and instead find themselves playing. It's a playful reminder of the dual nature of technology, showcasing both its serious applications and its capacity to divert attention away from productivity.
In practice
Using this quote during a tech conference when discussing productivity.
The philosophical question before us is, when we make an observation of our track in the past, does the result of our observation become real in the same sense that the final state would be defined if an outside observer were to make the observation?
We seem gradually to be groping toward an understanding of the world of subatomic particles, but we really do not know how far we have yet to go in this task.
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool.
It has not yet become obvious to me that there's no real problem. I cannot define the real problem; therefore, I suspect there's no real problem, but I'm not sure there's no real problem.
For far more marvelous is the truth than any artists of the past imagined it. Why do the poets of the present not speak of it? What men are poets who can speak of Jupiter if he were a man, but if he is an immense spinning sphere of methane and ammonia must be silent?
Science is a way to teach how something gets to be known, what is not known, to what extent things are known (for nothing is known absolutely), how to handle doubt and uncertainty, what the rules of evidence are, how to think about things so that judgments can be made, how to distinguish truth from fraud, and from show.
GOOD, adj. Sensible, madam, to the worth of this present writer. Alive, sir, to the advantages of letting him alone.
Objects can be classified scientifically into three major categories: those that don't work, those that break down and those that get lost.
I have inherited my father's sense of humour about myself. It's a lot more pleasant to make fun of yourself than when someone else does.
Drown in a cold vat of whiskey? Death, where is thy sting?
I was trying to do one-liners and it took me years to realise I just had to be myself. My fear was if I was myself and no one found it funny, I'd have nowhere left to go.
Comedy is simply a funny way of being serious.
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