The smile on his face when he does this is amazing. Almost worthy of a *happy tag. =)

Invocations (happy) cannot be called by Bruti79 because Bruti79 is not privileged - sorry.

The best part is what he said at the very end. Most of the stuff that the everyday person learns about science growing up tends to align pretty well with their gut feeling. But when it starts getting down to more complicated problems, not much is really intuitive. It bothers me when people are so quick to dismiss established science just because "it doesn't seem right" to them.

I made an account here just to reply to this, because I was thinking the exact same thing as Moegahdeeshoo. I loved the part at the end. While the non-intuitive nature of some aspects of science causes some to dismiss it, I think it's also a big part of why others, including myself, are so fascinated by science.

It's like they say - common sense is what tells you the earth is flat.

I think that's what you need not only as a teacher of science, but as a student. Fascination. If you aren't fascinated by something, how can you be excited or enthusiastic about it?

I feel like if you have a good grasp of all the concepts involved...gravity, conservation of angular momentum, torque, etc...then this kind of is intuitive. It just takes an understanding of physics as a whole to make the leap. (Then again, maybe that base of understanding makes it not intuitive?)

How is this #1?

Agreed. Nothing unexpected happened here for me. I'm not sure that means I was able to intuit the events, I just anticipated them. Maybe it's just semantics. I suppose all intuition is based on the sum of your knowledge and past experience. What else could intuition be?

Yes, probably in that case you would not be intuiting, but inferring. That is perhaps one of the funny things about intuition. Once you do understand those concepts, have you 'lost' your ability to intuit about such things?

That may account for why so many people (dare I say) fear science. As you say though, looked at another way, by learning and deeply internalizing the previously unintuitive concepts, you develop a more complex and Truer form of intuition. A person, however, who cannot or will not put forth the effort to internalize unintuitive concepts is condemned to live in a world governed by strange principles they do not understand. I can see how that may be a disturbing and frightening way to live.

The easy way out, of course, is to say, "it is god's will that the world works this way, and god's will is unknowable." I can see the comfort that can be found in that, and even a glimmer of wisdom there, so I should make the disclaimer that I don't believe this is a bad thing *when applied with intelligence and thoughtfulness.*

Naturally, it doesn't have to be 'god' either. It could simply be an acceptance that some things are beyond what can be truly understood in a single lifetime. Personally, I try to find some sort of a balance--particularly because I'm an engineer and sometimes I just have to accept that something works without really understanding how. For instance, I rely a good deal on quantum mechanical phenomena that I only understand in the crudest sense, and I just have to be satisfied that I can, without any genuine intuitive understanding, mechanically manipulate symbols on a page and create something that nevertheless works. Attempting to intuit on that level (though it may be fun as an exercise), is beyond me personally, and properly in the realm of academia. It's why I have so much respect for this guy and his silly spinning wheel.

As for things like existential questions of the soul and free will and all that? Well, I'm already way too far off topic, and I only got this far because of the couple glasses of wine I had with dinner.

In response to a question posed above about this being number 1, there is something about watching people who are very good at their jobs working that I find appealing. I'm not sure why, really. Another example would be the Spanish bricklayer video a week or so back.