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Terence Tao explains 6 essential mathematical concepts [video] (youtube.com)
stillpointlab 1 hours ago [-]
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.

esalman 2 hours ago [-]
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.
SMEbooop 2 hours ago [-]
Yeh; I mean he's still just a dude, not gonna glaze him, but IMO early public ed should really just focus on math and basic physical experiment design for kids

Save specialization in other fields for later in life. Most fields jargon are bolted on top the physical geometry, color gradient, and additive/subtractive behavior in the natural world anyway.

binyu 38 minutes ago [-]
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.

23 minutes ago [-]
4 minutes ago [-]
iTokio 2 hours ago [-]
Numbers

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?

binyu 15 minutes ago [-]
Why do you feel this is a reduction? If anything, it is an attempt to summarize the various areas of math and how they relate to each other.
Isamu 2 hours ago [-]
So… numbers, algebra, geometry, probability, analysis, dynamics are not the primitives or essentials ?
SMEbooop 3 minutes ago [-]
[dead]
laybak 3 hours ago [-]
this is great foundational content! I also enjoyed his earlier appearance on 3Blue1Brown

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdOXS_9_P4U

bobajeff 2 hours ago [-]
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.
matthewsinclair 4 hours ago [-]
Apologies for the typo. I’ve asked mods to fix it.
matthewsinclair 4 hours ago [-]
Looks like it’s been fixed. Thanks.
Agentus 3 hours ago [-]
i blinked and read terrence howard. i was like good god
stuxnet79 2 hours ago [-]
For those not in the know, Terrence Howard's dreams of a career in Astrophysics were eviscerated after Neil Degrasse Tyson reviewed his "Theory of Everything" paper [1]

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1uLi1I3G2N4

pixelpoet 4 hours ago [-]
At least spell his name correctly, my goodness...

Terence Tao.

dang 4 hours ago [-]
Can't believe we missed that. Fixed now. Thanks!
129476 4 hours ago [-]
[flagged]
femiagbabiaka 4 hours ago [-]
It was expected that people without established credibility would be looked down on for using AI, but it's been weird to see people with all the credibility in the world lose it for embracing AI.
4 hours ago [-]
orf 4 hours ago [-]
What credibility has he lost?
femiagbabiaka 3 hours ago [-]
To sensible people? None. But the amount of criticism of his work that boils down to "he uses AI" is undeniable.
orf 3 hours ago [-]
Can you share some of the criticism? I’ve not seen any from anyone real.
pfdietz 3 hours ago [-]
It's weird to believe he's lost credibility.
nutjob2 3 hours ago [-]
Tao gives or takes credibility from AI, not the other way around.
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