We sit in our ivory towers and think
On holiday, and re-reading two ‘metabiographies’:
Philippe Douroux : Alexandre Grothendieck : Sur les traces du dernier génie des mathématiques
and
Siobhan Roberts : Genius At Play: The Curious Mind of John Horton Conway
.
Siobhan Roberts’ book is absolutely brilliant! I’m reading it for the n-th time, first on Kindle, then hardcopy, and now I’m just flicking pages, whenever I need to put a smile on my face.
So, here’s today’s gem of a Conway quote (on page 150):
Pure mathematicians usually don’t found companies and deal with the world in an aggressive way. We sit in our ivory towers and think.
Though Conway complains his words were taken out of context (in an article
featuring Stephen Wolfram), he clearly means each one of them.
If only university administrations worldwide would take the ‘sitting in an ivory tower and think’-bit as the mission statement, and evaluation criterium, for their pure mathematicians.
But then… they obviously prefer managers to thinkers.
This reminds me of another brilliant text, which may not have gotten the attention it deserves:
Daniel J. Woodhouse : An open letter to the mathematical community.
Woodhouse offers a reaction to the ‘neoliberal upper management and bloated administration’ of universities:
Within the sphere of pure mathematics — the oldest and most successful of humanity’s intellectual endeavors — I believe our best chance at preserving the integrity and dignity of our tradition is to return to our Pythagorean roots. We should become a cult.
How?
Let us seclude ourselves in mountain caves and daub mysterious equations in blood across rock-faces to ward off outsiders. Let us embrace our most impenetrable mathematical texts as sacred and requiring divinely distributed revelation.
How did we end up in this miserable situation?
I am convinced that the current system has dulled our understanding of the value we offer through our instruction. Modern mathematical techniques are the foundation of modern science, medicine, and technology, and we should be the literal, rather than metaphorical, high priests of this temple. Only by withholding our insights will we be able to reassert the intrinsic worth of our knowledge.
I hope these few paragraphs have wetted your appetite to read the manifesto in full, and then act upon it!
Remains the delicate matter whether to allow category theorists into our sacred places, or not.
I think they’ll politely excuse themselves.
Why?
Because we won’t allow Twitter in our convents.
from Never Ending Books
