the idea of the ‘unrecognized genius’ is mostly a myth. the world, for the most part, is designed to discover and reward real talent — with some exceptions. so if you’re not finding success in a meaningful way, it may be a sign that you’re not suited for that particular path

I asked a CS prof at TIFR whether I could still learn math and he said “Of course!” and recommended this book. So far it’s been incredible. What a find!
Also pictured: my physicist cousin on learning math as a hobby

Other kind of sketches

Sketches

Putting this out there again: looking for teaching jobs. I can do high school biology.

Watching a lecture. Is he super fast or am I super slow?

The physicist John Wheeler, inventor of the phrase, "it from bit" at a Princeton blackboard discussing what in nature can be quantized but as if he were looking at Walton Ford's, "Falling Bough," a fantastic depiction of collective behavior.

Is there an arrow of time in the brain? Can Boltzmann and Shannon's ideas be used to understand it? Check this paper by Morten Kringelbach, J Perl and Gustavo Deco on how physics and information theory reveal how hierarchical cognition works cell.com/trends/cogni...

I feel like this is what people who are great at math are intuitively good at: recasting a tough problem as an equivalent problem and solving that. (I’m thinking a lot about learning math these days since I’m trying to learn myself)

Anyone with teaching job leads in Mumbai?

My mom went back to college to get a B.Ed and MSc in her 50s. Switching fields when you’re older is hard but can be done.

As of today 5pm: Officially on the job market for teaching jobs

1. Imagine we land a space probe on one of Jupiters’ moons, take up a sample of material, and find it is full of organic molecules. How can we tell whether those molecules are just randomly assembled goo or the outcome of some evolutionary process taking place there? 🧪

Clarity of writing very often reflects clarity of thought. When you see inscrutable text, particularly in your own field, there’s a good chance the authors didn’t truly understand it either