The Problem-Solving Method They Removed From Every Textbook (Feynman Archives)

In 1964, Richard Feynman was the only person on California's textbook commission who actually read the textbooks. What he found should have ended careers — publishers sending blank books that still received ratings, first-grade science texts teaching children nothing but empty vocabulary, and an entire system designed to reward memorization over real understanding. This video breaks down Feynman's forgotten problem-solving framework — the same approach he used to win the Nobel Prize, expose broken education systems from California to Brazil, and coin the term "Cargo Cult Science" in his legendary 1974 Caltech commencement speech. You'll learn his 12 favorite problems technique (explained by mathematician Gian-Carlo Rota), why estimating before calculating is the single most underrated thinking skill, and how to tell the difference between someone who memorized the answer and someone who actually understands the problem — a distinction that matters more now than ever, because AI can memorize everything, but it can't think from scratch. If you've ever felt out of step with the system — at school, at work, in a meeting where nobody could answer the question that wasn't on the slides — this video explains why. And it gives you a method to fix it tonight.



Estimating before calculating helps people imagine how something might actually be functioning. It makes the mind wonder, and keeps it open/flexible. This video hits on the problem of memorising things - copying what authority is telling you - as opposed to actually understanding what may be going on at a basic level. This is all about core principles of investigation, getting down to primary sources and hard evidence, and working things out for yourself. What's being described here is First Principles Thinking. It's highly relevant to today's highly propagandised and politicised society, where we are faced with lies and misdirection when it comes to all manner of things (most disastrously when it came to the Covid jabs).

AI summary:

First principles thinking is a powerful mental model that involves breaking a big, complex problem down to its most basic, foundational truths—things you know are 100% true—and building up a new solution from scratch, rather than copying how others do things.

How It Works

Most of the time, humans think by analogy. We look at what other people do and make small tweaks. First principles thinking stops you from copying. It forces you to ask deep questions until you hit rock-bottom facts.

Step 1: Identify your current goal or problem.
Step 2: Break the problem down into its absolute core components.
Step 3: Challenge every assumption. Ask "Is this actually true, or is it just how things have always been done?"
Step 4: Build a new solution up from those core truths.

[Posted at the SpookyWeather2 blog, August 9, 2026.]