The Meaning of It All

Twenty years ago Perseus Books published three lectures that Richard Feynman had given in 1963 at the University of Washington. In these talks—THE MEANING OF IT ALL—Feynman applied brilliant, logical common sense to some general observations about science and opinions and so forth. Below is what he had to say about the Stalinist Soviet Union. 

“The Soviets are very very ingenious and clever indeed. They even tell us what they are doing to us. . . . And what they want us to do is lose faith in the Supreme Court, to lose faith in the Agricultural Department, to lose faith in the scientists . . . and lose faith in all sorts of ways . . . and to paralyze us.” That was 60 years ago.

Putin is not Stalin, who had an ideology. Putin just dislikes the West.

That said, I have lost faith in the Supreme Court and the Agricultural Department. The Republicans have lost faith in scientists. None of this can be credited to Russia. We’ve done it to ourselves, lost faith in some of our important institutions, because they betrayed us again and again. No major party is going to tell us the truth about what we have lost, but that is what we need to get on track.