There are many ways I could go for the next couple of weeks. All are fascinating to me, so I’ll let you decide. Vote now!
1. I could lay out in simple terms my favorite Millennium Problem: The Hodge Conjecture. I wrote this up last winter, and it is for all levels. It is conceptual and basically no details rear their ugly head. So if you’re interested in what these million dollar prize problems are like vote 1.
2. Several art related things that are well worth analyzing/discussing have come up.
2a. Literature: My Gravity’s Rainbow Challenge is well under way or I never really discussed my thoughts on my first Haruki Murakami experience.
2b. Film: I saw my first Pedro Almodovar film. Other directors worth discussing that have come up recently are Harmony Korine, Werner Herzog, Shinya Tsukamoto, and Shyamalan’s newest The Happening.
2c. Music: Who has popped up this year as exceptional (Bon Iver, Son Lux, Extra Life, etc) and who has let me down (Death Cab). I have a harsh opinion people don’t want to hear.
3. Philosophy: The standard philosophy of mind and language that I’ve been reading, or some ethical debates (more on Sam Harris maybe?).
4. Choose your own adventure: Anything you’ve seen or heard of lately pertaining to math, physics, philosophy, or art that you think I may be able to shed some light on. I have an article entitled “Noncommutative Geometry for Pedestrians” that I’ve been looking for an excuse to read. Also, I have a library system and netflix, so basically any book or film you bring up I should be able to get my hands on.
July 4, 2008 at 7:36 pm
I’d vote for ‘choose your own adventure.’ I’m interested in hearing what you think about a non-mathematical ‘proofs’ of mathematical claims, like this one.
A similar argument for the same theorem can be made using properties of soap bubbles. Kenny Easwaren at Antimeta started me thinking about this stuff.
Cheers!
July 5, 2008 at 6:03 pm
waw cool!
- aprillins
July 5, 2008 at 6:04 pm
waw cool! you have talent!
- aprillins
July 5, 2008 at 6:49 pm
I’ll give this until tomorrow, but it is looking like philosophy of math…unless I count “waw cool!” as “noncommutative geometry.”
July 6, 2008 at 10:11 am
Count my vote for noncommutative geometry.
July 7, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Is it too late to vote for art-related things?
July 7, 2008 at 3:07 pm
Nope. Keep the votes coming. When I finish one thing I’ll need to know where to go next (although this current thing could go on for awhile) and I’m not going to keep reposting voting things.
Any particular subcategory for art? I’m guessing 20th c. literature. Anything in particular? I’m half-way through Gravity’s Rainbow. I also think that DeLillo and Wallace (DFW) are the two most important literary figures in the 20th c. But if you’re more into the earlier thing I could do something on Faulkner or Steinbeck or even why I think the Beat generation contributed nothing to literature and Kerouac is overrated.
Oops. I just realized in my above paragraph I didn’t stray from 20th c. American literature. Oh well.
July 8, 2008 at 4:44 am
S’okay never to stray from the 20th century as far as I’m concerned, but I’m pretty obviously biased.
You could also talk about music (particularly Death Cab, and whether Ben Gibbard is becoming jerk-ier as he gets older or if I’m just more aware of his jerkiness on “Narrow Stairs”).