Feynman's Greatest Fear

"....I believe that one of the greatest dangers to modern society, is the possible resurgeance and expansion of the ideas of thought control...." Richard P. Feynman

Feynman's Fear

I am not sure what lecture this is referring to, however I definantly wish to hear that audiobook.

Your video doesn't seem to be working?

EDIT: Thanks for fixing, I'll also embed it for you:

Originally posted by CHA0S
Your video doesn't seem to be working?
I'll embed it for you

Thanks a lot for embedding it for me, CHAOS.

UPDATE: I have found a link to that lecture on Google Books:

What is and should be the role of scientific culture in modern society

reply to post by quantum_flux

I am not sure what lecture this is referring to,

That's not Feynman. That's a voice actor quoting from page 98 of his book, "The Pleasure of Finding Things Out"

Here's the full text compliments of google books.

EDIT:
And here we have an example of why it's best to read threads before responding to them. Sorry quantum_flux. You beat me to it by an hour.

Richard Feynman: The Pleasure of Finding Things Out

Google Video Link

Quite a remarkable fellow .

Here are some excerpts that I put together from that lecture Feynm an on "What is and should be the role of scientific culture in modern society":

...This modern society seems to be threatened by a number of serious threats, and the one that I would like to concentrate on and which will in fact be the central theme...of my discussion is that I believe that one of the greatest dangers to modern society, is the possible resurgeance and expansion of the ideas of thought control; such ideas as Hitler had, or Stalin in his time, or the Catholic Religion in the Middle Ages, or the Chinese today. I think one of the greatest dangers of today is that it shall increase until it encompasses all of the world...

...another thing that bothers me, I might as well mention, are the things that theologians in modern times can discuss, without feeling ashamed of themselves...some of the things that go on in the conferences of religion...are ridiculous in modern times...one of the reasons why this can keep going, is that it is not realized what a profound modification of our (scientific) worldview would result, if just one example of these things (absurd religious claims) would really work...on the other hand, why don't we just get rid of it? (the internet is rapidly helping to do that, but there was no internet in 1960's when the lecture was being given)...

...What's the right way...to report (scientific) results? Disinterestedly, so that the other man is free to understand precisely what you are saying, and as nearly as possible not covering it (results from the data) with your desires...

...such things as propaganda should be considered a dirty word...a description of a country made by the people of another country should describe that country in a disinterested way...

...advertising, for example, is an example (more often than not) of a scientifically immoral description of the products. This immorality is so extensive that one gets used to it in ordinary life, that you do not appreciate that it is (often times) a bad thing. And I think that one of the important reasons to increase the contact of scientists with the rest of society is to explain, and to wake them up to...[not] having information always in a form which is (self) interesting...

...The other thing that gives a scientific man the creeps in the world today are the methods of choosing leaders - in every nation. Today, for example, in the United States, the two political parties have decided to employ public relations men, that is, advertising men, who are trained in the necessary methods of telling the truth and lying in order to develop a product. This wasn't the original (forefather's) idea. They (candidates) are supposed to discuss ideas and not just make up slogans. It's true, if you look in history, however, that choosing political leaders in the United States (and elsewhere too) has been on many occasians based on slogans...

Then it goes on to discuss biological and the possibility of atomic data storage and then you need to purchase The Pleasure of Finding Things Out for a few dollars to get the rest of the lecture and discover how the compression of information that Richard Feynman predicted would happen, way back in the 1960's, relates to the further possibilities of mind control today.