51–60 of 96 posts
"If you're the smartest person in the room, you're probably in the wrong room". Science journalism has its place, but it can simplify things beyond the point of being educational. If you don't mind feeling a little dumb you can get the information straight from the source: https://yufeizhao.com/blog/ https://arxiv.org/search/math?searchtype=author&query=Sah%2C...
Even though this is in Quanta this is really cool!
Even though? Is there a problem with Quanta that I am not aware of? I find it a nice magazine to read about various math-y subjects and researchers despite the editorial click-bait-ish style sometimes. It is a nice starting point to discover new stuffs.
For an example recently discussed on HN: "Computer Scientists Achieve ‘Crown Jewel’ of Cryptography" -- misunderstanding the science, not investigating the larger context (in which it's just a form of FHE), pulling out the (overwrought) term of one person, to call it the "crown jewel", describing other work as "dazzling newcomers" and, of course, forgetting to investigate the practical constraints. These are errors in the basic craft of journalism.
I see the same problems in other articles in areas I have worked in which leads me to doubt the whole enterprise. It also likes "profile of a researcher" articles, which are typical talismanic pieces for the popular press void of any actual science.
It's probably fine to surface interesting topics, though there are other sources appear to use writers who are actual scientists, or who at least have scientific training.
I was having a discussion recently in another forum where I argued that success at a Math Olympiad is a good indicator of future success. I'm not surprised to see in the slightest he won a gold medal at 16.
The math olympiad success underestimates him. I would say that in terms of mathematical abilities, Gold on the IMO tenure at a top-100 university. Aswhin will maybe be a Fields medal candidate.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
What's a "hot take"? I agree with the answer above. You need to pour a fair bit of effort into getting on an Olympiad team. Whether you get a PhD is more a question of economics, IMO. If you're showing that much promise there will be many other temptations, and bear in mind it's not just rich countries that have math kids, there's plenty of olympiad kids who need to get out and make money when they've done their degr…
> What's a "hot take"? It's slang for "unsubstantiated opinion likely to incite controversy". Weird how this word started appearing everywhere suddenly in the last few months.
Are there any use case of this discover beyond iet being impressive?
Some times I feel inferior while reading such stories, they are of almost the same age as me. Even though I am very well placed in my career sometimes it just stings :(
There will always be someone better than you at everything you can think of. Running, mathematics, chess, programming, kite flying, writing whimsical poems, whatever
There are also people who are not good at those things who nevertheless gain tremendous satisfaction from doing them and getting better at them.
Are you on the side of good? That's all that matters, really
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is perhaps one of my biggest downside surprises about university. Although there were plenty of fun people to hang out with, there were very few people who had a seriousness about getting work done, along with a collaborative instinct. Maybe I was unlucky, but I'd thought that an Oxbridge college would yield a few people who could keep me focussed on the academics. And yes, in another world I would have brought…
Intellectualism hasn’t matured as Barbarism has (still going through refinement). Your gym partner is never going to even attempt to prove to you they are stronger, and you yourself won’t even care if they are (or vice versa). There’s a natural understanding of the physical, and mostly we as a society realize how futile it is to exert physical dominance on one another. So you are stronger, what are you going to do, b…
Are there any use case of this discover beyond iet being impressive?
Basically, its impressive to make this level of contribution as an undergraduate team AND if they keep up this level of productivity the "big" discoveries will come in the coming years.
I was having a discussion recently in another forum where I argued that success at a Math Olympiad is a good indicator of future success. I'm not surprised to see in the slightest he won a gold medal at 16.
The math olympiad success underestimates him. I would say that in terms of mathematical abilities, Gold on the IMO tenure at a top-100 university. Aswhin will maybe be a Fields medal candidate.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
This is perhaps one of my biggest downside surprises about university. Although there were plenty of fun people to hang out with, there were very few people who had a seriousness about getting work done, along with a collaborative instinct. Maybe I was unlucky, but I'd thought that an Oxbridge college would yield a few people who could keep me focussed on the academics. And yes, in another world I would have brought…
Intellectualism hasn’t matured as Barbarism has (still going through refinement). Your gym partner is never going to even attempt to prove to you they are stronger, and you yourself won’t even care if they are (or vice versa). There’s a natural understanding of the physical, and mostly we as a society realize how futile it is to exert physical dominance on one another. So you are stronger, what are you going to do, b…
Seeing the same lack of collaboration in university was really disappointing. Friendly people listened passively, less friendly people liked to listen and contradict. The willingness to actually share knowledge seemed to be almost non-existent.
I haven't solved the puzzle yet why sharing knowledge is so hard. Some people don't have knowledge to share, some want to keep an advantage, and the barbaric instincts to reject unfamiliar ideas tramples the remaining few sparks.
Noticing my own barbaric instincts in action was enlightening.