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Failed to get the use of "what" here: in terms of some model what I am going to describe...

 
 
Reply Tue 14 Jul, 2015 03:27 am
If the author said " in terms of some model that I am going to describe", it is easy to understand.
Do you think "what" is better than "that" here? Or "what" conveys a meaning different to that of "that"?

Context:

The difficulty really is psychological and exists in the perpetual torment that results from your saying to yourself, "But how can it be like that?" which is a reflection of uncontrolled but utterly vain desire to see it in terms of something familiar. I will not describe it in terms of an analogy with something familiar; I will simply describe it. There was a time when the newspapers said that only twelve men understood the theory of relativity. I do not believe there ever was such a time. There might have been a time when only one man did, because he was the only guy who caught on, before he wrote his paper. But after people read the paper a lot of people understood the theory of relativity in some way or other, certainly more than twelve. On the other hand, I think I can safely say that nobody understands quantum mechanics. So do not take the lecture too seriously, feeling that you really have to understand in terms of some model what I am going to describe, but just relax and enjoy it. I am going to tell you what nature behaves like. If you will simply admit that maybe she does behave like this, you will find her a delightful, entrancing thing. Do not keep saying to yourself, if you can possible avoid it, "But how can it be like that?" because you will get 'down the drain', into a blind alley from which nobody has escaped. Nobody knows how it can be like that.

Richard P. Feynman, The Messenger Lectures, 1964, MIT

More:
http://bouman.chem.georgetown.edu/general/feynman.html
 
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InfraBlue
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Reply Tue 14 Jul, 2015 09:26 am
@oristarA,
He's not saying that he's going to describe a model, "some model that I am going to describe." He's saying that one feels that one has to understand what he's going to describe, in terms of some model. Maybey setting "in terms of some model" within dashes would help to clarify it's meaning.

"So do not take the lecture too seriously, feeling that you really have to understand--in terms of some model--what I am going to describe, but just relax and enjoy it."
oristarA
 
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Reply Tue 14 Jul, 2015 09:52 am
@InfraBlue,
Cool. I should have been more careful in reading.
Thanks.
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McTag
 
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Reply Tue 14 Jul, 2015 11:10 am
@oristarA,

Quote:
because you will get 'down the drain', into a blind alley...


Nobody can mix a metaphor like an academic in full flow. Smile
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