I've heard it said that true understanding is demonstrated when someone can explain difficult concepts well. Tao manages to convey complex ideas without making me feel like he is condescending to me. His depth of understanding is unmistakable.
My changes to his list would be s/Geometry/Topology/ and I might have found a place for logic and type theory. I am especially glad he brought to mind Dynamics since that is a field I know I need to pay more attention to.
Great video, we're lucky to have this kind of content so easily and widely available.
stillpointlab
Saw him explain Fourier transforms once; it finally clicked. Probably another masterclass in clarity.
Tbarlow
Related and a great read: "The Joy of X: A Guided Tour of Math, from One to Infinity" by Steven Strogatz:
I respected Terence Tao but since listening to his "Mathematics in the age of AI" talk, I've become a fan. I have had nobody else explain so succinctly what is the purpose of Mathematical research, why it matters, and why it is so important to preserve the ways we do math. Even more importantly, I feel it resonates so well with every other field AI is taking over.
Very good resource. However, I fail to understand how a monkey writing the Hamlet is akin to a brute-force problem, in Terence's own words. The thesis seems to be here that given enough time, a monkey will be able to reason as a human.
Edit: Probably refers to the evolutionary aspect of the problem. My criticism is that he compares the time for a monkey needed to learn the hamlet to merely "quadratic time". I disagree that such degree of non-linearity applies here. I think it is grossly simplified/underestimated.
binyu
I really enjoyed this video (watched it the other day). It makes me feel like it's possible for me to understand the math that I'm currently trying to understand.
comments (10)
My changes to his list would be s/Geometry/Topology/ and I might have found a place for logic and type theory. I am especially glad he brought to mind Dynamics since that is a field I know I need to pay more attention to.
Great video, we're lucky to have this kind of content so easily and widely available.
stillpointlab
Tbarlow
https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/13356649-the-joy-of-x
thedreammachine
esalman
tzury
Algebra
Geometry
Probability
Analysis
Dynamics
I loved this talk, but these concepts are like an attempt at dimensional reduction of math research, science, the academics knowledge.
I would have loved to have his thoughts on the mathematical mind, the process, how to reason, infer vs deduct, abstract, prove..
I don’t really know, what are the primitives, essential concepts of math reasoning?
iTokio
marcy_74
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdOXS_9_P4U
laybak
Edit: Probably refers to the evolutionary aspect of the problem. My criticism is that he compares the time for a monkey needed to learn the hamlet to merely "quadratic time". I disagree that such degree of non-linearity applies here. I think it is grossly simplified/underestimated.
binyu
bobajeff