alright just for fun: AMA but only about math, will attempt to speed-explain stuff with as few symbols and equations as possible and see what happens
(esp happy to field questions about stuff that seems basic to you and that you feel like you should've gotten a long time ago!)
Conversation
top few non obvious math concepts that would benefit me in my day to day?
1
11
hmm. so i think having some basic concept of what a dynamical system is and the basic kinds of behavior they can exhibit is helpful. scott wrote a really nice version of this for thinking about e.g. depression but it generalizes massively:
lorienpsych.com/2020/11/11/ont
1
1
14
it's worth clarifying that i think most of the "day-to-day" value i get out of having an extensive math background has nothing to do with anything like an explicit calculation and is almost entirely about having a very precise source of metaphors for building ontologies out of
1
2
25
e.g. thinking about the mind as a dynamical system, thinking about a group of people as a dynamical system, thinking about the entire planet as a dynamical system, etc.