Today, all physicists know from studying Einstein and Bohr that sometimes an idea which looks completely paradoxical at first, if analyzed to completion in all detail and in experimental situations, may, in fact, not be paradoxical.
Interpretation
Sometimes, ideas that seem contradictory can be understood through detailed study and experimentation.
This quote by Richard P. Feynman highlights the importance of rigorous analysis and experimentation in scientific inquiry. It emphasizes that what initially appears to be a paradox may actually reveal underlying truths when examined thoroughly. Feynman suggests that the complexities of concepts in physics, as demonstrated by the works of Einstein and Bohr, should be approached with an open mind and a commitment to understanding, as deeper insights can emerge from careful investigation.
In practice
During a lecture on scientific methodology, you could use this quote to emphasize the importance of experimenting with seemingly contradictory ideas.
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.
While consumers may be more shocked by pink slime or the feeding of Prozac to poultry, the routine feeding of millions of pounds of human antibiotics to chickens presents a much graver threat.
I believe God did intend, in giving us intelligence, to give us the opportunity to investigate and appreciate the wonders of His creation. He is not threatened by our scientific adventures.
Science reserves the highest reward for those of you who disprove our most cherished beliefs. At any moment someone from any walk of life could come forward and be responsible for a complete revision of our view of everything.
Our only chance of long-term survival is not to remain lurking on planet Earth, but to spread out into space.
If you ask almost any of them, 'Do you stand behind your theory? Is this the answer?' I think almost everyone would say, 'No, no, no. I'm just trying to expand the range of possibilities.' We really don't know what's going on.
Talk to people... everything good I've done has come from conversations with people. Science is a very social phenomenon.
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