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R. P. Feynman on social sciences

x1x2x3ct0 HN recommenders · 2012–2015
210K views · lecture · evergreen · Uploaded 2010-03-15

A two-minute clip of Richard Feynman on the social sciences, discussing what counts as real science versus pseudo science.

HN cites it in threads on psychology replication and weak research as Feynman's critique of pseudo science.

Scientific method & science communication

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3 comments from Hacker News

@zerohp2012 · in “Collection of Richard Feynman talks on the scientific method, learning, and CS”

Actually, people still say that sociology, and other social "sciences" are not science. You're assuming that the scientific method is science, but its more than that. Many modern fields of endeavor call themselves sciences mostly because of the success of science. They only superficially emulate science. This includes Computer Science, which is really mathematics and engineering. Feynman himself speaks about it: [VIDEO]

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@FrojoS2012 · in “Daniel Kahneman calls for ‘daisy chain’ of psychology replications”

Richard P. Feynman on pseudo science: [VIDEO] BTW, I come from the field of robotics and there, hardly any published result is replicated either.

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@dpc_pw2015 · in “Study shows psychotherapy becoming less effective”

R. P. Feynman on social sciences: [VIDEO] Psychology, economics, climatology. World is literally run by "almost-sciences" claiming to have an authority of "full-science".

CitesView on HN