JOLLY DAYS

Experts

In Richard Feynman's Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman he recounts the way he figured out a law of nature. The actual discovery was about the behavior of subatomic particles. He didn't explain enough about the actual content to make it coherent. He was more interested in explaining the process — a creative process that crosses all fields.

The aspect of creative thinking which he focused upon was the need to discard convention. He had relied on data that was flawed and later realized that “the sensible thing to do” was to trust his initial skeptical reaction to the data where he had “noticed it wasn't satisfactorily proved.”

Since then I never pay attention to anything by “experts”. I calculate everything myself…I'll never make that mistake again, reading the experts' opinions. Of course, you only live one life, and you make all your mistakes….

Received notions and the experts regurgitating them are, if taken to heart, death to the creative act.