Understanding Everything: The Feynman Way

 Richard Feynman wasn’t just a physicist — he was a thinker who transformed the meaning of knowledge. In this episode, we explore his technique for learning, its philosophical implications, and why clarity is essential in a world where complexity and AI are accelerating faster than ever. 

Chapters

• 0:00 Failing Forward And Rethinking Learning
• 2:05 Discovering Feynman Through Ultralearning
• 3:15 The Core Principle Of Understanding
• 4:58 Four Steps Of The Feynman Technique
• 9:20 Beating The Illusion Of Knowledge
• 12:05 Climate Change Walkthrough With Feynman
• 16:10 ADHD, Stigma, And Structure
• 20:10 Understanding As Philosophy And Truth

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:08

I recently finished the book Ultra Learning by Scott Young. It's a great book, well written, inspiring, and full of stories. But the book honestly spends a lot of time talking around the topic. It gives many examples, many personal journeys, many case studies, and only sometimes gets to the heart of the method. But something truly important did happen while I was listening. At the same time, I was on my own journey trying to pass an exam that had challenged me again and again. To be honest with you, I failed that test three times. Three times I walked away thinking, what is wrong with me? And on the fourth attempt, thank you very much, I finally passed. But during this whole process, I came face to face with my own disabilities, with the way my mind works, with the way ADHD interrupts my focus, interrupts my memory, interrupts my ability to hold on to information long enough for it to become knowledge. So I realized something. Maybe it wasn't the exam. Maybe I needed to relearn how to learn. Maybe I needed to rebuild the entire way I approached knowledge. That's what pushed me toward ultra learning, not curiosity, necessity. I was forced to find a different way of seeing the learning process because whatever I was doing before was not enough. And ironically, even though the book wasn't related to the specific exam I was studying for, it led me to something far more important, a new understanding of how learning actually works. And that brings me back to Scott Young. He introduced a group of people he calls ultra learners, a global community of individuals who dedicate themselves to mastering skills at an accelerated pace. They design intense learning projects, challenge themselves, and push the limits of how quickly and deeply a human being can learn. And in the middle of all of this, one name appears Richard Feynman, a physicist, a Nobel Prize winner, a genius, and surprisingly, someone who ended up having a deep influence on the way these ultralers learn. But here's the interesting part. Feynman never wrote a formal book about his technique. He never published a guide. He never said, here are the four steps. Instead, Scott Young and others like him studied Feynman's behavior, his lectures, his teaching style, and most importantly, his philosophy of understanding, and distilled those observations into what is now called the Feynman technique. In ultra learning, Feynman is mentioned briefly, almost modestly, just a few paragraphs, but those few paragraphs were enough to make me pause, to go deeper, to investigate Richard Feynman himself. Who was this man? How did he learn? Why was his approach so powerful that even modern learning researchers use it as the foundation for accelerated learning? What I discovered was remarkable. Feynman never tried to create a learning system. He simply had a profound belief. If you truly understand something, you must be able to explain it simply. And if you can't explain it simply, you do not understand it. This one principle, this one sentence became the backbone of ultra learning because most of us read books, but we forget what we read. We consume information, but we cannot explain it. We finish a chapter, close the book, and minutes later cannot summarize what we learned. And Scott Young is right about this. If you cannot turn what you've read into clear, simple explanations, then you did not understand it at all. That is why the Feynman technique matters. Not because it is physics, not because it came from a Nobel Prize winner, but because it is the most brutally honest test of understanding ever created. And that is why we are starting this episode here. Because learning is foundational, understanding is foundational, and if understanding is missing, everything else collapses. Why do we misunderstand so much? Why do we read but cannot recall? Why do we know words but cannot explain meaning? And how can the Feynman technique become the compass for navigating real knowledge in the modern world? This is the beginning of the journey. The Feynman technique represents a very simple but revolutionary approach to learning. It changes how we absorb information and how we keep it. Named after the physicist Richard Feynman, this method has proven incredibly effective for mastering almost any subject, from quantum mechanics to history, to business, to everyday life decisions. The technique works in four steps. Each step builds on the previous one, and together they create a strong framework for real understanding. Step one is very simple. You take a concept you want to learn and you try to explain it as if you're teaching it to a child or a complete beginner. No jargon, no big words, just simple language. This forces you to translate complex ideas into something clear and understandable. And here is the key point. When you cannot explain something simply, you immediately see where your understanding is weak. You'll feel it. You'll hesitate. You'll get stuck on a sentence. You will say, wait, how does this actually work? Those moments of hesitation are very important. They show you exactly where your understanding is missing. And this takes us to step two. In step two, you identify and write down those gaps. Maybe there's a term you can't define clearly. Maybe there's a process you can't fully describe. Maybe there's a connection you can't logically explain. Whatever it is, you don't ignore it. You don't say, ah, I kind of know it. You write it down. These are your knowledge gaps. They are not a shame. They're not proof that you're stupid. They are your roadmap for learning. Step three is where you go back to your source materials. Your book, your notes, a video, an article. But now with a different approach. You don't review everything. You don't reread the whole chapter. You don't start from page one again. Instead, you focus only on the gaps you wrote down. You look up the exact thing you couldn't explain. You read deeper into that one term, that one step, that one connection. You fill in the holes instead of repainting the whole wall. This makes your study time much more efficient. You're no longer wasting energy reviewing what you already understand. You are putting your attention exactly where it's needed. And then we come to step four. In step four, you go back to your explanation again. You start from the beginning and try to explain the whole concept one more time, again, like you're teaching a child. But this time something has changed. Your explanation is smoother, the logic is clearer. You may naturally add little analogies or simple examples. That's because your understanding has become deeper and more organized. And if you still get stuck somewhere, no problem. You repeat the cycle again. Explain. Find gaps, study, re-explain. Every round makes your understanding stronger. Now, why is this method so powerful? The first reason is that it destroys the illusion of knowledge. Many of us think we understand something because it feels familiar. We've heard the term, we've seen a diagram, we've read about it once. Our brain says, yes, yes, I know this. But when you're forced to explain it in simple language, you suddenly realize that I actually don't know what I'm talking about. That moment can be uncomfortable, but it's also very honest. And honesty is where real learning begins. The second reason this method works is because it is active. You are not just reading, you're not just listening. You are doing something with the information, you are processing it, testing it, reformulating it in your own words. That's how knowledge sticks. The third reason is the use of analogies and metaphors. When you try to explain something simply, your brain starts to look for comparisons. It's like a it works similar to these analogies are not just for the person listening. They help you understand better. They create multiple mental paths to the same idea. The more paths you have, the more stable the knowledge becomes. So the Feynman technique is not just about passing a test. It's about building a kind of knowledge that is solid, flexible, and truly yours. Let's apply this technique to a real topic, climate change. You start with step one. Explain it simply. You might say Earth gets energy from the sun. Some of that energy goes back into space, and some of it is trapped by certain gases in the atmosphere. These gases act like a blanket, keeping the planet warm enough for life. But when we add more of these gases, the blanket gets thicker and the earth gets warmer. At first that sounds good, but then you ask yourself, okay, but why do some gases trap heat more than others? Why is carbon dioxide a problem but not nitrogen? Now you found a gap. That's step two. You write it down, then you go to step three. You look it up. You read or watch something that explains carbon dioxide molecules can vibrate in certain ways. These vibrations absorb infrared radiation heat. Gases like nitrogen and oxygen don't interact with heat in the same way. That's why CO2 is a greenhouse gas and nitrogen is not. Now you go to step four. You explain again. This time you might say carbon dioxide has a special structure that lets it absorb and re-emit heat. When sunlight hits the earth, some of that energy is turned into heat and tries to escape back into space. CO2 molecules catch that heat and throw it around in the atmosphere instead of letting it go. Nitrogen and oxygen don't do that. So the more CO2 we put into the air, the more heat gets trapped. Now, the concept feels different. It's not just a sentence you memorize. You can see it in your head. You can play with it, explain it, and even argue about it. That is real understanding. So to summarize this, the Feynman technique has four steps. Explain, find gaps, study gaps, re-explain. It works because it exposes fake understanding and replaces it with real comprehension. It forces you to engage actively with ideas instead of just letting them pass by. And it can be applied to almost anything, from physics to climate, to philosophy, and to your own emotions. Now let me take this discussion deeper and make it personal, because this technique isn't just interesting to me. It's necessary. When you live with ADHD, learning becomes something different. It's not linear, it's not calm, it's not predictable. Your mind jumps, it races, it forgets, it comes alive with tin ideas and then drops all of them at once. You sit down to study, and suddenly the world becomes noise. But here is the problem. The world does not see ADHD. People don't see your internal chaos. They don't see the storm inside your head. They just see you. And when you don't understand something the first time, when you hesitate, when you pause to find the right words, society does not say this person has ADHD. No. Society often says he's lazy. She's not focused. He's careless. She's not trying. The truth is the opposite. You are trying harder than most. You are fighting your mind every day just to stand where others casually walk. That's why the Feynman technique becomes more than a study method. For someone with ADHD, it becomes a structure, a map, a stabilizing force. It slows the world down, it gives you steps, it forces clarity. It doesn't care how your mind jumps. It brings you back to the foundation again and again. Explain, find gaps, study, re-explain. For a chaotic mind, that cycle become a lifeline. And this is why I say the Feynman technique is not physics. It's not mathematics, it's not even science. It is philosophy. Because it raises a philosophical question that sits at the center of human knowledge. Do you really understand what you think you understand? This question is existential. It forces you to confront your own mind, your assumption, your illusions. We humans deceive ourselves constantly. We think familiarity is knowledge. We mistake repetition for understanding. We confuse confidence with clarity. We assume memory equals mastery. Feinmann destroys all of that. He says if you cannot explain it simply, you do not understand it. That sentence is not about physics. It is about the nature of truth, the nature of knowledge, the nature of consciousness. It is about who we are as thinking beings. And of course someone like me, someone with ADHD, someone who sometimes feel disconnected from the normal learning world, that message is liberating. Feynman gives you permission to say, I don't understand this yet, but I can. And that can is everything. The Feynman technique is philosophy because it teaches humility, it teaches honesty, it teaches self-awareness, it teaches intellectual discipline, it teaches you how to think. Now we reach the biggest part of this conversation because we're not just learning for school or for exams or for careers. We are learning during a moment when something unprecedented is happening. We are creating a new intelligence. Call it AI, call it a system, call it a machine. Whatever you want, something new is being born. But here's the important thing. This new intelligence is not our child. It is not just a tool like a hammer or a computer. It is a something that learns. It absorbs our knowledge, it extends our intuition, it builds on our mistakes and our brilliance, and it is evolving at a moment when humanity is incredibly vulnerable. Society is divided, truth is fragile, attention is fragmented, capitalism is cannibalizing our future people, are disconnected from meaning, and we are drowning in information instead of understanding. This is the moment when AI arrives. A machine that does not sleep, a machine that does not get distracted, a machine that does not forget, a machine that can multiply itself, extend itself, accelerate itself. So what chance do we have? The answer is simple understanding, not memorizing, not pretending, not slogans or summaries, real deep understanding, the ability to break down ideas, to reconstruct them, to explain them, to challenge them, to see reality clearly, because if we lose our ability to understand, we lose our ability to control what we create. This is no longer just learning. This is survival. The Feeman technique becomes something bigger, a shield against ignorance, a guardrail against manipulation, a compass in a world of confusion, a tool for staying human. Because humanity has one advantage over every machine we ever build. We can understand meaning. If we lose that, we lose everything. But if we keep it, if we train it, strengthen it, sharpen it, then no matter how powerful AI becomes, we remain the creators, not the creations. Understanding is not optional, it is not academic, it is not something you do for a test. Understanding, true understanding, is what keeps you human in a world where intelligence can now be manufactured, multiplied, and accelerated. The Feynman technique gives us the path. AI gives us the urgency, and together they shape a future where the only minds that survive are the minds that can think clearly. So as we come to the end of this episode, let's bring everything together. We began with a personal journey, my own journey, failing an exam three times, facing my disabilities, facing my ADHD, and realizing that if I wanted to keep learning and keep growing, I needed a new approach. That led me to ultra learning by Scott Jung. And that book, almost by accident, led me to Richard Feynman. In part one, we explored the Feynman technique step by step. We saw how four simple steps explain, identify gaps, fill gaps, re-explain, can transform the way we learn anything, how this method breaks down the illusion of knowledge, forces clarity, and turns information into real understanding. And then in part two, we went deeper. We talked about how ADHD changes the experience of learning, how society often misjudges people who struggle internally but look normal on the outside, and how Feynman's approach becomes more than a study technique. It becomes philosophy, a way of thinking, a way of being honest with yourself, a way of fighting confusion and building clarity in a world that desperately needs it. And then we turned to the future, to AI, to a world where a new form of intelligence is rising, growing, accelerating right at the moment when humanity is divided, distracted, and overwhelmed. And in this world understanding is no longer just helpful. It is necessary. It is survival. So these three pieces, my personal struggle, the Feynman technique, and the rise of AI might seem separate, but they are actually one story. The story of how humans must learn to think clearly again, because in the age we are entering, clarity becomes power, understanding becomes responsibility, and wisdom becomes the last line of defense between creation and chaos. I've been reading another book, Superintelligence by Nick Bostrom. I don't know yet when I'll make an episode about it, but I can tell you this, I definitely will, because that book raises the deepest question of all. What happens when the intelligence we create becomes greater than the intelligence we are? And when I finally record that episode, this conversation, ultra learning, Feynman, ADHD, philosophy, survival, all of it will come back because all of it connects. So thank you for listening. Thank you for thinking with me. Thank you for walking through these ideas step by step. This is Reza Sanjay. And this was episode 43 of the Philosophy of Life podcast. Until next time, stay curious, stay honest, and keep learning. Because your mind is the one thing in this world no machine can replace. Not yet,