Richard Feynman — "The age of ignorance is past. The age of reason is here. And it will be a glorio…"
The age of ignorance is past. The age of reason is here. And it will be a glorious age, if we but choose to make it so.
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More from Richard Feynman
"The more you learn, the more you learn how little you know."
"I don't know what's the matter with people: they don't learn by understanding; they learn by some other way — by rote or something. Their knowledge is so fragile!"
"If you thought that science was certain — well, that is just an error on your part."
"I'm not a humanitarian. I'm a scientist."
"I don't want to be a part of the establishment. I want to be an outsider."
About Richard Feynman (1918-1988)
American theoretical physicist who shared the 1965 Nobel for QED, developed Feynman diagrams, and wrote the Feynman Lectures on Physics. Closely associated with Julian Schwinger (co-Nobelist for QED) and Murray Gell-Mann (Caltech rival and Eightfold-Way physicist). For an intellectual contrast, see Deepak Chopra, physician and quantum-mysticism author — Feynman's Caltech 'cargo cult science' commencement address is the precise template for what he saw as misuse of physics terminology — Chopra-style appropriation of quantum vocabulary for metaphysical claims is the canonical example of what Feynman called 'fooling yourself'.
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Understanding this quote
What it means
Humanity has left behind superstition and ignorance, entering an era where rational inquiry and evidence-based thinking can guide decisions. But progress isn't automatic—it requires conscious choice. The 'glorious age' is conditional: available to us, but only if we collectively commit to reason over dogma, and critical thinking over blind belief. The optimism is earned, not assumed.
Relevance to Richard Feynman
Feynman embodied reason as a way of life. His quantum electrodynamics work demanded rigorous evidence-driven thinking over intuition. He crusaded against 'cargo cult science,' warning self-deception was science's worst enemy. A Los Alamos physicist who later questioned nuclear development, he saw reason as moral responsibility. His Challenger investigation—cutting through NASA bureaucracy with a rubber band in ice water—showed reason as urgent, practical, and essential to human survival.
The era
Feynman's career spanned the postwar scientific revolution—Manhattan Project through the Space Age and Reagan era. Nuclear weapons, vaccines, computing, and space exploration all emerged simultaneously, making science civilization's defining force. Yet Cold War paranoia, McCarthyism, and resurgent fundamentalism pushed back against rational inquiry. In that tension between unprecedented scientific power and persistent anti-intellectualism, declaring that reason had arrived—and must be actively chosen—carried real political and cultural urgency.
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