A Misunderstood Word

Regarding our conversation about time, or the lack of it. On thinking
about it, my opinion is that it's a very great trap laid by a culture that
envies geniuses. What a narrow, one-dimensional portrayal of genius, that
he/she has to accomplish everything at a young age! I think we should all
be kinder to ourselves, with regards to time. That means taking things
easy and enjoying life when I can! (That's my plan.)

Ian:
What you wrote seems very reasonable. It does seem likely that my ideas
about age and about what it means to be successful in physics (or life) are
somewhat ingrained in me because of cultural impositions. I've thought about
this a lot since I was in high school. And, actually, this has led me to
think more about what the purpose of all of this really is.

That is, what is the purpose of studying physics? The trivial answer is that
it's interesting, we like to understand nature, and so on. But that doesn't
seem to answer the more fundamental question. We're interested...so what?
What is our purpose, what are we doing this for??
And then, talking with a friend about this, he made me realize that perhaps
the problem wasn't what the purpose of all of this is, but better, what one
understands by purpose. I've thought about this last thing quite a bit. But
I would still like to know what this means to you, what is your feeling
about this.

I love the way you rephrased the question. In so many ways, it is a better question because of it. It is better because I think the original question: what is the purpose of learning physics (which might as well be: what is the purpose of learning sociology, or what is the purpose of life, in general) is a very great hoax. When people search for a standardized answer to the purpose of life, they fall victim to “mind viruses” (not my words, but I thought they fit) such as religion.

This recurrent theme in all major religions (that it has to answer this hoax of a question) reflects a very large void in the masses that has to be filled. Some psychologists believe that people are native teleologists. Teleology is the assignment of purpose to everything. I have not met an intelligent person who has not wondered about his/her purpose. Maybe there is really some truth in the claims of these psychologists.

My feeling is that there is no standardized purpose to life, or learning physics, or physics itself. Even the word ‘purpose’ is misleading. It implies that life could not exist without purpose. But in fact, we know from Darwin that it can. The same word implies that learning physics is impossible without a purpose (obviously wrong). Some people claim that the purpose of law in nature is to allow life (this answer is of course very ego-centric), which brings us back to the first question. These are the unanswerable questions that leave me sick to the stomach when people try to ask me about them. They are just ill-posed questions.

If we discard the word ‘purpose’, I think we should be talking about ‘directions’ in life. Life can exist with or without direction, but a directed person will find fulfillment, whereas one who is aimless will go nowhere. One can learn physics with or without direction, but as you say, intellectual curiosity is a very poor stand-alone reason to commit a lifetime of effort to the study of physics.

My direction in physics has always been simple. I want to help people. This may surprise you, but before I found my intellectual passion for physics, I recognized that I was good in physics, and if there was anything substantial I could do, I thought surely it must be in this field, and the passion came after this decision. Later on, my simplistic view is to take on some hard knocks, but my resolve to stick to my direction is as strong.

I believe it is the search for clarity of this direction that makes each individual person unique. There should be no standardized direction, because we are too different! It’s impossible. Any answer that claims to apply to all is part of that same great hoax.

The search for clarity of direction is not just a very personal voyage. I think it defines who you are, it defines your life, everything about you.

We are aided in our search by external ideas, images, words that resonate through us. We find what is admirable about the life stories of other people and tuck them in the back of our head, to take seed. We create the idea of an ideal person, which could not be a single person that has already existed, because that would be extreme idolatry. Instead this ideal person must be an amalgamation of many, many influences, so that it is impossible to identify one dominant influence. I am left with no choice but to admit that YES this ideal person is unique, because no such other person has ever existed. With experience comes greater wisdom, and the ideal person may evolve in my fertile imagination, but always I strive to reach that ideal which is mine, mine only.

That, in short, is what I understand about purpose (possibly the most misunderstood word in the world).