Comments on: Useless Mathematicians? http://blog.cheesefingers.com/2007/03/20/useless-mathematicians/ Practical thoughts fueled by divine orange powder Wed, 08 Sep 2010 01:10:06 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.4 by: Dev http://blog.cheesefingers.com/2007/03/20/useless-mathematicians/#comment-744 Thu, 22 Mar 2007 02:10:44 +0000 http://blog.cheesefingers.com/2007/03/20/useless-mathematicians/#comment-744 If the solution of E8 ends up being significant, it will be a surprise to everyone, including the people who solved it. I didn't really want to make this a battle between fields, but more about emphasis within fields. If the medical field discovered a solvent that can grow fingernails at a rapid pace while mathematicians created an algorithm that improved the crash efficiency of automobiles, then the argument would have been turned around. There came a time for both parties mentioned in this entry to choose a problem to attack. It appears to me that the mathematicians chose E8 because it was hard but feasibly solvable. If the solution of E8 ends up being significant, it will be a surprise to everyone, including the people who solved it.

I didn’t really want to make this a battle between fields, but more about emphasis within fields. If the medical field discovered a solvent that can grow fingernails at a rapid pace while mathematicians created an algorithm that improved the crash efficiency of automobiles, then the argument would have been turned around.

There came a time for both parties mentioned in this entry to choose a problem to attack. It appears to me that the mathematicians chose E8 because it was hard but feasibly solvable.

]]> by: Richa http://blog.cheesefingers.com/2007/03/20/useless-mathematicians/#comment-739 Wed, 21 Mar 2007 20:10:41 +0000 http://blog.cheesefingers.com/2007/03/20/useless-mathematicians/#comment-739 I'm going to have to disagree with you on this. The entire point of research and development is not to solve real-life problems, but to extend human knowledge and to foster innovation. To solve the problems we <em>don't know we have</em>. Moreover, there's no saying that solving E8 will not have an important real-life application a few years down the road, if it doesn't already. There are plenty of intelligent minds trained in the proper fields working on solving real-world problems, whether or not they have something to show for it. What would really be useless is throwing a bunch of mathematicians at a medical issue. I’m going to have to disagree with you on this. The entire point of research and development is not to solve real-life problems, but to extend human knowledge and to foster innovation. To solve the problems we don’t know we have. Moreover, there’s no saying that solving E8 will not have an important real-life application a few years down the road, if it doesn’t already.

There are plenty of intelligent minds trained in the proper fields working on solving real-world problems, whether or not they have something to show for it. What would really be useless is throwing a bunch of mathematicians at a medical issue.

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