We are at the very beginning of time for the human race. It is not unreasonable that we grapple with problems. But there are tens of thousands of years in the future. Our responsibility is to do what we can, learn what we can, improve the solutions, and pass them on.
Meaning of the quote
The quote suggests that we are still in the early stages of human history, and it's normal for us to face challenges and problems. However, we have a long future ahead of us, so our responsibility is to do our best, learn as much as we can, improve the solutions, and pass them on to future generations.
More quotes from Richard P. Feynman
I believe that a scientist looking at nonscientific problems is just as dumb as the next guy.
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!
The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool.
It is in the admission of ignorance and the admission of uncertainty that there is a hope for the continuous motion of human beings in some direction that doesn’t get confined, permanently blocked, as it has so many times before in various periods in the history of man.
It doesn’t matter how beautiful your theory is, it doesn’t matter how smart you are. If it doesn’t agree with experiment, it’s wrong.
Reality must take precedence over public relations, for nature cannot be fooled.
Poets say science takes away from the beauty of the stars – mere globs of gas atoms. I, too, can see the stars on a desert night, and feel them. But do I see less or more?
Nature uses only the longest threads to weave her patterns, so that each small piece of her fabric reveals the organization of the entire tapestry.
Scientific views end in awe and mystery, lost at the edge in uncertainty, but they appear to be so deep and so impressive that the theory that it is all arranged as a stage for God to watch man’s struggle for good and evil seems inadequate.
The idea is to try to give all the information to help others to judge the value of your contribution; not just the information that leads to judgment in one particular direction or another.
For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled.
I was born not knowing and have had only a little time to change that here and there.
We are at the very beginning of time for the human race. It is not unreasonable that we grapple with problems. But there are tens of thousands of years in the future. Our responsibility is to do what we can, learn what we can, improve the solutions, and pass them on.
If I could explain it to the average person, I wouldn’t have been worth the Nobel Prize.