A recent Dave Richeson tweet generated these two links to great pieces having to do with lexicography and the circularity of words (including mathematical or computational aspects):
https://pointatinfinityblog.wordpress.com/2020/05/13/circles-1-circular-definitions/
http://bit-player.org/wp-content/extras/bph-publications/AmSci-1999-03-Hayes-Wordnet.pdf
A new round of always-fun lateral thinking puzzles from Futility Closet today:
https://www.futilitycloset.com/2020/12/28/podcast-episode-325-lateral-thinking-puzzles/
...and here's an hour-plus of science-writer John Horgan talking to science-writer Amanda Gefter:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGb9SVZhCwc
No math today, just a Sunday deadline:
https://www.rawstory.com/25th-amendment/
(...while wondering if Nashville is an isolated tragedy or a presage of the next 4 weeks in America)
"High school mathematics content is a wonderful vehicle for teaching powerful, human thinking."
James Tanton on the Covid-19 'teaching crisis' and mathematics education:
https://medium.com/@jamestanton/covid-19-exposes-mathematics-education-inadequacies-a-modicum-of-secret-relief-for-educators-48490c44d649
Ben Orlin on the wisdom of the (sometimes) uncanny Twitteratti:
https://mathwithbaddrawings.com/2020/12/22/the-uncanny-wisdom-of-twitter-crowds/
Once again on the all-too-common practice of 'torturing the data':
https://mindmatters.ai/2020/12/torturing-data-can-destroy-a-career-the-case-of-brian-wansink/
"This is one reason why artificial intelligence (AI) is often brittle. AI algorithms can torture data faster than any human and can find an essentially unlimited number of idiosyncrasies that humans might overlook. Computers don’t get tired and they never say no."
AI, computer algorithms, modeling... and, the limits thereof:
https://mindmatters.ai/2020/12/ai-still-just-curve-fitting-not-finding-a-theory-of-everything/
Usually toward the end of the year I do some sort of review of popular math books from the year gone by, including choosing a “Book of the Year.” That tradition ends this year as I have read no math books (and very few books at all) since last March, having been so distracted by covid and the insane politics of America… moreover that rascal Ben Orlin didn’t put out a book this year, so what is the point of naming a book-of-the-year! Just kidding, there were once again many fabulous books out in 2020 for the dedicated math fan. The four I did look at, and absolutely loved (and recommend), early in the year were, in no special order:
Mathematics for Human Flourishing
Five more recent volumes that have definitely caught my eye are:
Best Writing On Mathematics 2020
…. but many other math volumes appeared in the course of this year and if math books are part of your holiday shopping list you ought have no trouble finding several to select from. Indeed, this almost seems like a Renaissance period of math exposition, with the problem being over-choice, not scarcity!
ADDENDUM: will go ahead and add this volume I just learned of today:
Frank Ramsey: A Sheer Excess of Powers
Bored with the headlines, folks?... Is election news getting you down?... Or the blitz of political ads scraping on your last nerve?... Is that what's buggin' you, kiddies???
Well, OK, this won’t be everyone’s cup-a-tea, or fun distraction, but in a longish post (first of multiple) Scott Aaronson tackles the independence of the Continuum Hypothesis:
https://www.scottaaronson.com/blog/?p=4974
I knew it would be a great read when he started off with this quote from Bertrand Russell:
;)
“in adolescence, I hated life and was continually on the verge of suicide, from which, however, I was restrained by the desire to know more mathematics.”
We live in an age when the need for critical/logical thinking has never been more vital… and yet (it seems to me) is hardly taught or emphasized in our education system. Perhaps no field of study more greatly nourishes such an ability or objective than mathematics. In that vein I recently asked on Twitter what organizations and non-profits math people themselves would encourage giving charitable donations to in order to help further foster mathematics and the skills it entails.
Below are the suggestions, in no particular order, that I received (some of which I was unaware of), and I’m still happy to hear of even more, so feel free to add in comments:
Gathering For Gardner Organization
Julia Robinson Math Foundation
Bridge to Enter Advanced Mathematics (BEAM)
National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
National Association of Mathematicians
American Institute of Mathematics
'Math circles,' active in many areas of the country (check your local area), were cited.
additionally, someone mentioned that there are likely several math-related Patreon accounts taking donations… some are HERE.
Lastly, I was a bit surprised that no one mentioned the Art of Problem Solving group, so I’ll throw it into the mix as well.
As we head into the year-end charitable-giving season maybe keep such groups in mind right alongside all the more traditional names you'll hear from in your mailbox or otherwise.
"There’s a minimalism to teaching and learning math that I’ve always loved. With just a pencil and paper I can become a mathematician. With just one good question I can launch a math class. But now there’s a lot more I have to rely on, and plan for. And it’s all beyond my control."
-- Patrick Honner
https://mrhonner.com/archives/20512
This post from Andrew Gelman (well, the comments) led me to learn about the “apex fallacy” today:
https://statmodeling.stat.columbia.edu/2020/09/26/does-this-fallacy-have-a-name/
…which led me in turn to read about the “spotlight fallacy” and “toupee fallacy”:
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Spotlight_fallacy
https://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Toupee_fallacy
Covid... the Cornell experience:
https://junkcharts.typepad.com/numbersruleyourworld/2020/09/good-news-from-cornell.html
Early success, but Kaiser Fung does caution at the end:
"Whether the success will last is an open question. It's only three weeks into the term."
Nice exposition on today's world of data mining (...and bitcoin):
https://mindmatters.ai/2020/09/computers-excel-at-finding-temporary-patterns/
Taking the p-values pledge:
https://medianwatch.netlify.app/post/pvalue_pledge/
"Based on this latest experience and my exhaustion with dealing with p-values, I am making a pledge:
“…when we’re doing social and behavioral science, we’re not looking for a needle in a haystack; rather, we’re trying to catch a slippery fish that keeps moving. All this is even harder in political science, economics, or sociology. An essential aspect of social science is that it understands people not in isolation but within groups. Thus, if psychology ultimately requires a different model for each person (or a model that accounts for differences between people), the social sciences require a different model for each configuration of people (or a model that accounts for dependence of outcomes on the configuration).”
" I was terrified. It’s really scary to speak up in a room like that, and to call out literally everyone I work with. And I regret that I took half an hour to say something. I still can’t understand why no one else spoke up.... The message in that meeting was crystal clear. My school’s commitment to health and safety is a lie."One teacher's experience as schools around the country attempt to open:
“The first principle is that you must not fool yourself and you are the easiest person to fool.”— Richard Feynman
Maneuvering the path between Platonism and non-Platonism... Keith Devlin discusses the "culture" of mathematics (with interesting set of questions toward the end):
"The idea that there is a single body of knowledge or a single way of thinking that we call 'mathematics' is a myth."
"At the same time as we are going through this populist political movement there is a technocratic worship of data. Arguments are being presented in an increasingly quantitative way: people are using data to bullshit."-- Carl Bergstrom (co-author of Calling Bullshit: The Art of Scepticism in a Data-Driven World), on data, science, news… and B.S.:
