[satysin]

I love Feynman. He was an incredible teacher but this video has always annoyed me a little. The interviewer asked a pretty clear question (explain why magnets repel or attract depending on how you align them) but Feynman goes on a bit of a rant about how the guy won't understand if he explains things as he (Feynman) understands it and that he (Feynman) doesn't know how to explain it to him (interview) in ways he would understand.

For someone as excellent at sharing knowledge it seems like Feynman just didn't want to do the interview any longer. He sounds and acts a little pissed off with the question.

[kamaal]

Feynman tries to explain the absurdity of trying to ask questions which if divided down to their most simplistic forms can't give binary 'yes' or 'no' answers.

The issue with the 'why' questions is at the bottom most place in the the 'why' stack you need to have an axiom/postulation or at least a plain assumption, without which you can't explain the subsequent 'why' or 'how' questions.

Now this a classic trick in trying to prove science as useless and propel pseudo science concepts among crackpots.

[satysin]

Yeah I understand Feynman's point it is just if you watch the whole series of questions he has no problem answering other questions.

A perfectly acceptable answer from Feynman would have been to just explain magnetic force in a basic (high school) level.

He could have made his argument about any of the questions the interviewer asked as pretty much every scientific question will get down to fundamental physics which will be beyond most people.

[harperlee]

Well for me it sounded more like he wanted to stress the fundamentality of the magnetic force, and the weirdness of it by not showing up in other familiar areas to wich he could relate to in an analogy - but I agree that he didn't do a very good job with that answer.