I mean mathematics has enough history that something can both have been false for centuries of mathematics research and true for centuries. Sometimes in different places simultaneously.
Terrence Tao can do his job perfectly well without being aware of any mathematical history, though I consider it unlikely that he is. I'm not seeing the direct link you're talking about, in fact history is frequently left out of mathematical teaching even when the history would in fact help in the understanding of some concepts.
> in fact history is frequently left out of mathematical teaching even when the history would in fact help in the understanding of some concepts.
That is well-known I assumed and continue to assume.
> I'm not seeing the direct link you're talking about
You are stating that link yourself; indirectly: "though I consider it unlikely that he is [being unaware of any mathematical history]". Why is it unlikely, precisely?
- Maybe because it is unlikely that he recieved the mathematical teaching that frequently does not contain history of mathematics (wild! I wonder which university you have in mind in particular) that you seem to be refering to?
- Or maybe because he is quite the opposite of a person that never ventures outside of their own area; being blind for other fields, or ones own history; as evidence by being famously collaborative across different fields, having a popular blog where he writes about non-mathematical topics too and last; him being one of the main proponents of foundational topics such as formalization of mathematics; or the use of LLMs for mathematical research.
Does all that really make it more likely to you that Tao is not aware of the existence of counterexamples like those the commenter above mentioned - more likely than the commenter simply having missed a nuance or taking something out of context?
If so; I would be genuinely curious why - people work differently, and I am always happy to learn, or close gaps in my own understanding.
Any one of the arguments you make here is already stronger than the original one. The problems with appeals to authority isn't that they are always false, it's that they are not a good argument.
And you say his "expertise is directly linked to his ability to not misstate the history of mathematics". And frankly, I disagree. If he happened to be misguided or even outright wrong about some parts of mathematical history I wouldn't think any less of him, nor do I think it matters much for the work he's actually paid to do. At worst it would result in an online discussion, which is arguably a good outcome not a bad outcome.
Hmm, so basically Sweden has a surplus of goods (electricity), but the EU commissions is trying to pay for it with coupons that look like money but can't be used to buy everything, and now Sweden is saying "no, tak".
Sweden does not have surplus electricity. We have production of electricity that is better matched to demand than other nations, most notably the disaster that is Germany. German demand is causing Swedish industrial production to shut down due to increased energy prices, which makes production unprofitable.
Sweden has already successfully regulated so that the state-owned grid operator is collecting the profits. But other countries have privatized grids and don't particularly enjoy it when an operator forgoes grid expansion in favor of collecting on the price difference. I guess this will result in a compromise where grid operators are required to invest a minimum amount of their bottleneck revenues into grid expansion, while Sweden can take out the rest in a way that's less enticing for private operators. After all, that Sweden is negotiating at all indicates they would like new electricity market regulations in principle, just not this particular aspect of the current proposal.
> So congestion revenues are essentially arbitrage?
There are significant capital costs to moving power. As I understand it, an example within the US is the relationship between the regional transmission operator (RTO) SPP and MISO, who have overlapping territory. In order for move power between certain areas of SPP, it travels over MISO lines. This eats into MISO capacity. As a result the two RTOs are working on a joint project.
If the local population saw more of the economic benefits, was taken more seriously when they complained about earth quake risk, and was compensated more readily when the earth quakes resulted in actual damage, then maybe they would have been more willing to allow the gas fields to exist as a strategic reserve.
As it stands the local population has little more to show for it than demolished homes and damaged monuments and having an economic disease named after them.
I agree. The Dutch government still has a pretty sinister way of using divide and conquer against parts of society (NOx, Groningen / gas, Tata, ‘Toeslagen’; further back: closing of the mines, Indonesia). Our government finds it very hard to govern in compliance with the rules it made for themselves. Perhaps the nature of a complex system and also a general democratic phenomenon. But there is something typically Dutch in just not being able to fix a problem in the way the administration works.
Who is the leadership? The Council - then it would be national elections etc for the individual national representatives; the Commission - then it would be the European Parliament.
Terrence Tao can do his job perfectly well without being aware of any mathematical history, though I consider it unlikely that he is. I'm not seeing the direct link you're talking about, in fact history is frequently left out of mathematical teaching even when the history would in fact help in the understanding of some concepts.
reply