Part 5: Is Electricity Fire? Summary and Analysis

Feynman attends a conference on "the ethics of inequality". Before the conference he receives a recommended reading list—which consists of a list of "classics" and other such books he has not read. He begins to feel inadequate, uncultured, and unqualified to participate in this conference.

When he arrives at the conference he finds the people there use very elevated language to say things that are inherently simple and obvious. His intimidation vanishes when he recognizes the pretension. He is later amused when the stenotypist assumes he is not a professor since he, unlike the other professors, uses accessible language the stenotypist is able to understand.

In another incident, Feynman attends a lecture given by a man who advocates that Americans should, as a group, part with much of their wealth and share it...