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- Curious as to what it would take to change your mind. -

I recently talked about (in https://mathstodon.xyz/@tao/113873092369347147) how solutions in a dynamical systems can be roughly divided into an effective dynamics regime, where simplifying principles such as linearity can be reasonably good approximations, and the more complicated regime of no effective dynamics, in which the behavior can be significantly more nonlinear. For instance, in linear regimes, applying a force in one direction, if followed swiftly by an equal and opposite force in the other direction, will get the state roughly back to where one started; but the same is not true in nonlinear regimes. (If one pulls a spring too far in one direction, one can end up with a broken spring, with no way to return to the initial state, regardless of how one tries to push the spring back in the opposite direction.) (1/7)
Terence Tao (@[email protected])

The behavior of a high-dimensional dynamical system can, very roughly speaking, be divided into two regimes. The first is what one might call the "effective dynamics" regime, in which the complex, high-dimensional dynamics can be well approximated (in the observables that one particularly cares about, at least) by lower-dimensional effective equations or models that emerge from the more fundamental laws of motion, and are easier to understand and analyze. A classical example is the laws of thermodynamics, which can effectively govern (some of the) macroscopic behavior of a large number of interacting particles, due to mixing effects that greatly simplify the impact of most of the degrees of freedom. Another example from physics is Hooke's law, that asserts that an elastic object, such as a spring, exerts a linear restoring force to push it in the direction of its equilibrium. Similar linear restoring force phenomena can be seen across the sciences (such as climate science, biology, economics, or even political science): not as fundamental laws of nature, but as empirically observable laws that emerge from more fundamental ones. Such effective laws can provide a valuable amount of long-term stability, predictability, and simplification to the dynamical understanding of many real-world complex systems. (1/4)

Mathstodon

For those interested in getting started with blueprint-driven formalisation projects in Lean, I created a template repository (from which the InfinityCosmos project was generated) with the tutorial I presented at the Hausdorff Center for Mathematics in Bonn.

đź“‚ Repository: https://github.com/pitmonticone/LeanProject
🎥 Video: https://youtu.be/KyuyTsLgkMY

GitHub - pitmonticone/LeanProject: Template for blueprint-driven formalization projects in Lean.

Template for blueprint-driven formalization projects in Lean. - pitmonticone/LeanProject

GitHub

I am belatedly realizing that in my attempts to describe my evaluation of the capability of an AI tool, I inadvertently gave the incorrect (and potentially harmful) impression that human graduate students could be reductively classified according to a static, one dimensional level of “competence”. This was not my intent at all; and I would therefore like to make the following clarifying remarks.

Firstly, the ability to contribute to an existing research project is only one aspect of graduate study, and a relatively minor one at that. A student who is not especially effective in this regard, but excels in other dimensions such as creativity, independence, curiosity, exposition, intuition, professionalism, work ethic, organization, or social skills can in fact end up being a far more successful and impactful mathematician than one who is proficient at assigned technical tasks but has weaknesses in other areas.

Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, human students learn and grow during their studies, and areas in which they initially struggle with can become ones in which they are quite proficient at after a few years; and personally I find being able to assist students in such transitions to be one of the most rewarding aspects of my profession. In contrast, while modern AI tools have some ability to incorporate feedback into their responses, each individual model does not truly have the capability for long term growth, and so can be sensibly evaluated using static metrics of performance. However, I believe such a fixed mindset is not an appropriate framework for judging human students, and I apologize for conveying such an impression.

#auspol
Rowe

A word about all the people I've pissed off with this week's blog post:

https://mastodon.social/@Teri_Kanefield/112187081021199665

(When I woke up this morning, I removed about 25 comments !!)

I wonder if I feel free to write a blog post that I know will anger people because I don't monetize.

I have ads, but it pays a tiny fraction of the cost of maintaining a website and using MailChimp. People might be surprised at how much my blogging venture costs.

A few years ago Substack tried to recruit me . . .

1/

Will reading and writing skills improve or regress as a result of AI?
https://bloomberry.com/i-analyzed-5m-freelancing-jobs-to-see-what-jobs-are-being-replaced-by-ai/
I analyzed 5M freelancing jobs to see what jobs are being replaced by AI - bloomberry

There’s no question that AI will impact jobs. But which jobs are more likely to be replaced by…

bloomberry

📦 refund.shiny
📝 Interactive Plotting for Functional Data Analyses

đź”— https://cran.r-project.org/web/packages/refund.shiny/index.html

🤖#RStats

refund.shiny: Interactive Plotting for Functional Data Analyses

Produces Shiny applications for different types of popular functional data analyses. The functional data analyses are implemented in the refund package, then refund.shiny reads in the refund object and implements an object-specific set of plots based on the object class using S3.

Every high school in world should have a required class where they teach students how to recognize phishing emails and other online scams, and a passing grade should be required to graduate.
Heck, they can make it part of the class where they teach you how to find reputable information online, which should also be a required part of the curriculum.
We really need to be teaching kids online safety.
#infosec #HotTake

Texas Governor Abbott signals that he may (will?) defy the Supreme Court order regarding the border.

https://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/border/2024/01/24/475398/governor-abbott-signals-potential-defiance-of-supreme-courts-border-ruling/

In 1830, Andrew Jackson, as president, refused to heed a Supreme Court order regarding the removal of Native Americans from Georgia.

Jackson's refusal gave us the Trail of Tears.

Jackson remained popular.

The similarity: Both defiances are deeply racist.

The difference: In 1830 only white men could vote.

https://history.state.gov/milestones/1830-1860/indian-treaties#:~:text=President%20Jackson%20nonetheless%20refused%20to,and%20Henry%20Clay%20in%201835.

Governor Abbott signals potential defiance of Supreme Court’s border ruling

Governor Greg Abbott issued a “Statement on Texas’ Constitutional Right to Self-Defense,” following calls by numerous Republican lawmakers to resist the high court’s order, including three state representatives from Houston.

Houston Public Media