Anyone explain this Feynman quote?

[pergradus]

I was bored last night and look at Wikipedia's article on Feynman when I saw this quote:

...He also slammed the exclusivity of some mathematicians, saying "I have great suspicion that (mathematicians) don't know, that this stuff is wrong, and that they're intimidating people.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_feynman#Challenger_disaster (bottom of top paragraph)

Can anyone put this into some context and explain what he was talking about?

[BobG]

That is a truly odd place to insert that quote. The source of the quote is a book about economyths and most likely refers to statistical studies correlating some economic factor to another? I don't know, because I haven't read that book, so my interpretation of what it might mean would be biased due to my opinion of statistical correlations (they only help you figure out what questions to ask; not give you answers to your questions).

I find economics to be a lot harder to understand than physics.

[BobG]

The next paragraph in that article is more interesting:

He was married a second time in June 1952, to Mary Louise Bell of Neodesha, Kansas; this marriage was brief and unsuccessful:

He begins working calculus problems in his head as soon as he awakens. He did calculus while driving in his car, while sitting in the living room, and while lying in bed at night.
—Mary Louise Bell divorce complaint[41]p.168


What in the world was wrong her?! Clearly she suffered from some type of personality disorder.