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Pál Erdös and his mathematical philosophy
Most people think mathematics is about calculating things. Adding, multiplying, taking derivatives and integrals. However, Mathematics is about proving things. About asking questions and answering them through logic and clever arguments. Mathematics is much closer to philosophy than to a science if thought this way. Among mathematicians there are different ideas of how one should engage in research. Among pure mathematicians the two main camps are the "theory builders" and the "problem solvers". Mathematics needs both kinds of mathematicians to thrive, but I personally prefer the "problem solver" camp, so I will pick the main 20th century exponent of the "problem solver" mathematician: Pál Erdös (also known as Paul Erdös).
Erdös was prolific (publishing over 1500 papers with over 500 collaborators. Erdös travelled incessantly, being housed by mathematicians around the world, rarely staying at a place more than two weeks. One of the best aspects of his work is encouraging mathematicians to work together. He collaborated on so many papers that there is a notion called Erdös Number. It is sort of the Kevin Bacon of Mathematics (although the idea came before the Kevin Bacon game). If you have a paper with Erdos, then you have an Erdös number 1. If you have a paper with someone who has a paper with Erdös you have an Erdös number 2 and so on to get numbers 3,4,5,... .
Erdös was a great problem poser. Having a knack for asking interesting questions that lead to fruitful research. He created many problem solving techniques that are now essential in Combinatorics and championed some great methods in number theory.
While I think picking Erdös is a great pick in general in this category, I obviously have personal reasons for this choice. Since High School I have been attracted to the kinds of problems Erdös tried to solve. How are prime numbers distributed? How many people do you need in a room before you can guarantee that either 6 of them are all friends with each other or 6 of them are all strangers to each other? This is not known and in fact it is also unknown for 5, Spencer a friend of Erdös recalls the following Erdös joke:
Quote:
Erdős asks us to imagine an alien force, vastly more powerful than us, landing on Earth and demanding the value of R(5, 5) or they will destroy our planet. In that case, he claims, we should marshal all our computers and all our mathematicians and attempt to find the value. But suppose, instead, that they ask for R(6, 6). In that case, he believes, we should attempt to destroy the aliens.
My choice for graduate school came down to which one would do Erdös style mathematics. When I studied abroad in Hungary as an undergraduate, I was inspired by the Hungarian mathematicians. The level of creativity is incredibly high.
Erdös was an eccentric, incredibly talented man that affected Mathematics a great deal in the 20th century and inspired a huge number of mathematicians. I am proud of having him be my first pick in this draft.
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Picks so far:
Round 1: Paul Erdös and his mathematical philosophy.
So, it was clear in the last draft that I had a somewhat different perspective on the values of various categories compared to other people. I would say that I put more of a value on the scarcity of well-known things in the category than many other drafters did. Maybe it's because I'm a boorish American, but I valued drafting the David early because I didn't know a ton of other sculptures, certainly not many as awesome as the David. Also, I favored things that were not only beautiful in and of themselves, but also things that were broadly utilitarian -- utilitarian in the sense that they covered a broad range of cultural aspects rather than being utilitarian per se. I drafted things that my new culture could amply use to foster a new culture. That was a big reason why I was eager to grab the first website drafted, Wikimedia, despite the fact that many other people had dismissed the category. That is also why I grabbed "The Waste Land" early, even though it didn't mean much more to me than some other poems. The Waste Land meant a lot more to me, certainly compared to most poems I know and most other poems I was sure would be drafted. So, yet again, one of my earliest picks is going to be in the category in which other drafters furled their brows wondering what it was doing here. When there is room to go off the beaten path, there is the opportunity for immense value. This is far and away the #1 overall on my draft board, and I'm decently shocked that it fell to #4.
The category of my first pick is:
Spoiler:
Tool
With the fourth pick in the draft, I select:
Spoiler:
The Internet
Yes, that's right, bitches. My civilization will have the Internet, and yours won't. Even if you want to nag me about how the internet needs at least one of a number of other highly draftable but yet undrafted tools in order to be fully functional, I don't think I care. My civilization will have a massive, rapid network of communication between tools my civilization can subsequently invent, and that's what counts more than the tools that are communicating. My civilization will rapidly invent novel means of connecting to this amazing communications network simply by knowing it's there, and that being on it is incredibly valuable. And, once on it, the means of collaborating on new ways to improve it are unlimited. It is the communication that is the reason for everything from lolcats to the Arab Spring revolutions. I mean, I have a tool that is literally necessary for multiple upheavals and revolutions in culture. And, I have a tool to communicate the ideas of any of the best thinkers in my new culture. And, lest you naysayers try to say, nay, the Internet isn't beautiful, I say, gfy:
The Internet is a tool that can generate immense beauty, it can share immense beauty, and it is beautiful per se.
I drafted the internet. The rest of your cultures will be functionally retarded compared to mine.
Nice - I was trying to think what could possibly be considered a consensus first pick overall (or even arguably a first rounder), but the Internet absolutely falls into that category.
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