Math is still catching up to the genius of Ramanujan
quantamagazine.org
Math is still catching up to the genius of Ramanujan
1–10 of 447 posts
Re: Math is still catching up to the genius of Ramanujan
#2Why aren't we working on drugs to make people smart?
Re: Math is still catching up to the genius of Ramanujan
#3Why aren't we working on drugs to make people smart?
We did and still are. You can only safely push hardware so much.
Re: Math is still catching up to the genius of Ramanujan
#4Why aren't we working on drugs to make people smart?
Lots of people are, they're called nootropics.
Whether they are successful and whether they are mostly a bunch of snake oil is another question...
Re: Math is still catching up to the genius of Ramanujan
#5That was a fun read.
What really stuck out to me was how R failed in a bunch of other subjects except math because he wasn’t interested in them.
I know society and norms expect students to learn all these other subjects.
But what if those just aren’t interesting to someone?
I wonder how many geniuses we skip on because doing the chores of homework and getting through boring classes is busywork and memorization for the sake of getting an A.
Meanwhile, hardly anyone actually remembers anything about those topics and even the best students mostly go on to achieve only above average things.
My class valedictorian went on to become a doctor and while that is certainly impressive to me, there are many doctors and he practices (like almost every other doctor) and isn’t pushing the boundaries of medical science. I feel terrible writing that because I’m certainly not as smart as him, but R is just so impressive and I’m glad he got his lucky break.
People like R would be lost in the sea of averages because their genius would be kept shut by norms.
Almost every extraordinary person I read about seems like they were 1 step away from being forgotten, and got some huge universal break that boosted them.
Re: Math is still catching up to the genius of Ramanujan
#6Why aren't we working on drugs to make people smart?
Caffeine is the most used drug in academia.
Re: Math is still catching up to the genius of Ramanujan
#7Ramanujan’s story is very interesting but I would love more Indian mathematicians and scientists to become household names. Mathematicians like Harish Chandra, C. R. Rao, Manjul Bhargava, Narendra Karmakar etc. Physicists like C. V. Raman, Satyendra Nath Bose, Meghnad Saha. Others like Har Gobind Khorana and Venkatraman Ramakrishnan too.
Re: Math is still catching up to the genius of Ramanujan
#8Why aren't we working on drugs to make people smart?
Lots of people are, they're called nootropics. Whether they are successful and whether they are mostly a bunch of snake oil is another question...
I feel way more productive since going sxe.
I am naturally so tired around 9pm when I shut the lid of my laptop that I fall asleep within minutes of getting in bed.
On a side note.. Somehow my dreams have been insane and I’ve low key enjoyed the vivid worlds I find myself in over the past few months.
Wake up around 5 or 6, go for a stroll and then eat some breakfast.
Then I can work taking only breaks for lunch and dinner. Sometimes a 30 min nap in the afternoon in the park.
Re: Math is still catching up to the genius of Ramanujan
#9Why aren't we working on drugs to make people smart?
I used to think like you do. But the real place where we could make tons of progress is in relationships. Many stories of great thinkers involve one or a few crucial mentoring/pedagogical relationships. Without those, a person could forever find themselves trying to fit their square peg into the round hole of what "normal" society around them seems to expect. I can easily see how my life could have ended up like that.
As someone who benefited greatly from a few mentors in childhood and adolescence, my goal is to be able to give the same to at least a few other people in my lifetime.
Re: Math is still catching up to the genius of Ramanujan
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
Lots of people are, they're called nootropics. Whether they are successful and whether they are mostly a bunch of snake oil is another question...
I feel way more productive since going sxe. I am naturally so tired around 9pm when I shut the lid of my laptop that I fall asleep within minutes of getting in bed. On a side note.. Somehow my dreams have been insane and I’ve low key enjoyed the vivid worlds I find myself in over the past few months. Wake up around 5 or 6, go for a stroll and then eat some breakfast. Then I can work taking only breaks for lunch and d…
For those unfamiliar with the abbreviation sxe:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straight_edge
> Straight edge (sometimes abbreviated as sXe or signified by XXX or simply X) is a subculture of hardcore punk whose adherents refrain from using alcohol, tobacco, and recreational drugs in reaction to the punk subculture's excesses. Some adherents refrain from engaging in promiscuous or casual sex, follow a vegetarian or vegan diet and do not consume caffeine or prescription drugs. The term "straight edge" was adopted from the 1981 song "Straight Edge" by the hardcore punk band Minor Threat.