To continue, if I may. This article posed a long series of profound questions about the future of mathematics, corporatism, manufactured "needs", AI and autonomy (to mention a few). I'm in my seventies now but well remember working as a janitor in the university library, early mornings before heading off to high school. I came from an academic family: both parents were university professors, but had no settled career ideas myself . Taking a break from pushing a broom down highly waxed hallways, there was a place where a line of library-bound dissertation abstracts were. I used to open them and look for the mathematics abstracts. What a wonderland! Hausdorff spaces, fiber bundles, manifolds: these struck me as things of power and beauty. But I grasped nothing unfortunately. It was there at the library that the course of my aspirations were set. Now it would be wonderful to relate that I became a professional mathematician and made some great contributions. But life intervened and sent me off down other avenues. The point of all this autobiography? It is that mathematics must not, should not, and cannot be the sole provenance of corporations or politicians or machines. Because there is a magic to it, an unreproducible amalgam of human life, intellect, emotions, beauty and dreams. Most importantly, dreams.
Thank you very much for sharing your experiences. For various reasons I have decided not to say very much about my own aesthetic response to mathematics but I hope other people will use this space to say what mathematics means to them.
Simply brilliant essay. I'm old, but not a reactionary and harbor the quaint belief that all science, including mathematics, should be free from politics, free from concerns about social justice issues, identity inclusivity, economic imperatives, religious proscriptions, nationalistic concerns, etc and so forth. It should always be meritocratic. Imagine the Fields Medal awarded otherwise. Mathematical discoveries should not be monetized, copywriter, withheld for any reason from anybody. They are our species's universal heritage and possession.
To continue, if I may. This article posed a long series of profound questions about the future of mathematics, corporatism, manufactured "needs", AI and autonomy (to mention a few). I'm in my seventies now but well remember working as a janitor in the university library, early mornings before heading off to high school. I came from an academic family: both parents were university professors, but had no settled career ideas myself . Taking a break from pushing a broom down highly waxed hallways, there was a place where a line of library-bound dissertation abstracts were. I used to open them and look for the mathematics abstracts. What a wonderland! Hausdorff spaces, fiber bundles, manifolds: these struck me as things of power and beauty. But I grasped nothing unfortunately. It was there at the library that the course of my aspirations were set. Now it would be wonderful to relate that I became a professional mathematician and made some great contributions. But life intervened and sent me off down other avenues. The point of all this autobiography? It is that mathematics must not, should not, and cannot be the sole provenance of corporations or politicians or machines. Because there is a magic to it, an unreproducible amalgam of human life, intellect, emotions, beauty and dreams. Most importantly, dreams.
Thank you very much for sharing your experiences. For various reasons I have decided not to say very much about my own aesthetic response to mathematics but I hope other people will use this space to say what mathematics means to them.
My hope as well.
Simply brilliant essay. I'm old, but not a reactionary and harbor the quaint belief that all science, including mathematics, should be free from politics, free from concerns about social justice issues, identity inclusivity, economic imperatives, religious proscriptions, nationalistic concerns, etc and so forth. It should always be meritocratic. Imagine the Fields Medal awarded otherwise. Mathematical discoveries should not be monetized, copywriter, withheld for any reason from anybody. They are our species's universal heritage and possession.