Smash Notes Weekly

Hi everybody, this is Kirill with another edition of the Smash Notes weekly, your one stop shop for the best new podcast highlights on the internet. I would like to start today's newsletter a little differently. Before indulging in the usual podcast highlights, I would like to share with you an important piece of writing. In 1955, Nobel Prize winner Professor Richard Feynman wrote a paper on the Value of Science. In it, he concluded that of all its many values of science, the greatest must be the freedom to doubt. The message sure rings true to this day.

The Value of Science. Abridged

When a scientist doesn’t know the answer to a problem, he is ignorant. When he has a hunch as to what the result is, he is uncertain. And when he is pretty darn sure of what the result is going to be, he is still in some doubt. We have found it of paramount importance that in order to progress we must recognize our ignorance and leave room for doubt. Our freedom to doubt was born out of a struggle against authority in the early days of science. I think that it is important that we do not forget this struggle and thus perhaps lose what we have gained. Our responsibility is to do what we can, learn what we can, improve the solutions, and pass them on. It is our responsibility to leave the people of the future a free hand. In the impetuous youth of humanity, we can make grave errors that can stunt our growth for a long time. This we will do if we say we have the answers now, so young and ignorant as we are. If we suppress all discussion, all criticism, proclaiming “This is the answer, my friends; man is saved!” we will doom humanity for a long time to the chains of authority, confined to the limits of our present imagination. It has been done so many times before.

If you enjoyed this highlight, you will probably enjoy this book too - Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!

Podcast highlights for this week.

And a special mention for Startup Chat podcast and their episode on How to be really great at sales.

What's it like to be working in tech?

If you want to feel inspired, pacified, or utterly demoralized (depends on where you are in life), here's a lovely anonymous post and subsequent comments on hacker news on what it is really like to be a tech worker. One of my friends is a lead engineer at one of the tech unicorns, here's what he said: "Sadly, this could have been written by any one of my past co-workers." And with that, I thank you for subscribing to Smash Notes Weekly. Stay healthy, stay happy, and I will see you next week! -Kirill Zubovsky