"If there is no immortality, there is no virtue."
Pure bunk.
The foundations of morality lay in empathy. The more empathetic, the more moral. I suppose this can classically be summed up with the Golden Rule.
Being a functional human being, connected to society, connected to other human beings, psychologically sound, means having a strong sense of both sympathy and empathy. And through that a stronger sense on right and wrong.
Most crimes can be explained with a human beneficial end in mind I believe.
Crazy god damn guy. I plan on being him for Halloween. I've wanted to be a self portrait of him for years, actually buying a beat up suit and painting over it in an impressionist style. Then doing the same with my face and a hat. I won't go that far this year, just put some gauze over my ear, put some shabby clothes on and splatter them with paint. Should be cool. I look like him a little.
His life was pretty fucked up and I'm not sure why the Ear Episode gets so much attention. Typically people retell the story of him chopping his ear off and giving it to this hooker he was in love with. Sadly, it seems this is kinda bullshit. He just cut off the bottom of his earlobe. He certainly gave it to a hooker, but I think folks confuse her with another hooker he was in love with years before.
This guy was hospitalized twice because of STDs, frequented brothels, studied to be a minister in the reformed church, aggressively courted his cousin, chain-smoked and depended upon absinthe, fought vehemently with famous artists who thought his work was shit, lost his mind, was institutionalized and, eventually, shot himself in the chest with a gun in an attempt to commit suicide. Problem is, it wasn't an immediately mortal wound. He walked back to town and lived for two more days. That is a fuck load more interesting than just cutting a little piece of your ear off.
I know folks like him but think they ham it up for the most part. The tortured, unappreciated artist in today's society is so passe. I have little respect for a majority of the people who call themselves artists.
Feynman is a hero of mine.
The end.