Richard Feynman was the most awesome person ever. He essentially was an upgraded version of Einstein, at least when it comes to human features. His personality is much more accessible to ordinary people: he’s the subject of anecdotes featuring bongo drums, nuclear secrets and lock picking. He was somewhat a ladies’ man, he frequented strip clubs. He was curious of how things worked and eager to teach what he found out about them — something I think is the most admirable quality in a person.

Most people could learn something important from Feynman. People should maintain their natural curiosity through their lives. People should try to find things that are interesting to them, and them actively find out what makes them tick. To me, “I don’t know” is a very weird answer when practically everyone in the developed world has access to the Internet.

Most people seem to think finding out about things and knowing about things is something you can’t do — unless you get a monthly salary of it. Or, that knowledge is for the elite. Or, that knowledge is inherently dangerous and against their values. They should realize there indeed is a good salary for someone who upkeeps and uses the ignorance.

People are afraid of knowledge because of they don’t want to be a part of the elite. People think of Albert Einstein when they think of a genius, they should be thinking of Richard Feynman. Einstein was eccentric, Feynman was cool. Richard Feynman knew about things but still went to strip clubs, broke into offices for fun and I would think generally enjoyed his life.

So, next time, refer to someone as a regular Feynman — sarcastically or not — when you refer to a genius.