Related papers: Through a Glass Darkly
The highest level of mathematics research is traditionally seen as a solitary activity. Yet new innovations by mathematicians themselves are starting to harness the power of social computation to create new modes of mathematical production.…
Until this century, the number of working female scientists has been indeterminate. Prevailing wisdom indicates that women, historically, have not excelled in the mathematics and sciences, for various reasons. These range from societal…
This is perhaps a philosophical question rather than a mathematical one, we do not expect to give a full answer, even though we hope to clarify some ideas. In addition, we would like to provide a new perspective on the subject. We will find…
Learning to create, use, and evaluate models is a central element of becoming a scientist. In physics, we often begin an analysis of a complex system with highly simplified or toy models. In introductory physics classes, we tend to use them…
We conduct a laboratory experiment using framing to assess the willingness to ``sell a lemon'', i.e., to undertake an action that benefits self but hurts the other (the ``buyer''). We seek to disentangle the role of other-regarding…
A subset of machine learning research intersects with societal issues, including fairness, accountability and transparency, as well as the use of machine learning for social good. In this work, we analyze the scholars contributing to this…
This opening editorial aims to interest researchers and encourage novel research in the closely related fields of sociophysics and computational social science. We briefly discuss challenges and possible research directions in the study of…
We describe a mainstream "universalist" approach to the understanding of mathematics. We then conduct a systematic (but not exhaustive) review of the academic literature on the decolonisation of mathematics and identify how this challenges…
Active glassy matter has recently emerged as a novel class of non-equilibrium soft matter, combining energy-driven, active particle movement with dense and disordered glass-like behavior. Here we review the state-of-the-art in this field…
I argue that research in physics operates under an implicit community philosophy, and I offer a definition I think physicists would accept, by and large. I compare this definition to what philosophers, sociologists, and historians of…
We present a computational model of mathematical reasoning according to which mathematics is a fundamentally stochastic process. That is, on our model, whether or not a given formula is deemed a theorem in some axiomatic system is not a…
This overview article highlights the critical role of mathematics in artificial intelligence (AI), emphasizing that mathematics provides tools to better understand and enhance AI systems. Conversely, AI raises new problems and drives the…
The parts contributed by the author in recent discussions with several physicists and mathematicians are reviewed, as they have been occasioned by the 2006 book "The Trouble with Physics", of Lee Smolin. Some of the issues addressed are the…
In this essay, I argue that mathematics is a natural science---just like physics, chemistry, or biology---and that this can explain the alleged "unreasonable" effectiveness of mathematics in the physical sciences. The main challenge for…
We consider the dynamics of interpersonal relations which leads to balanced states in a fully connected network. Here this approach is applied to directed networks with asymmetric relations, and it is generalized to include self-evaluation…
An age-old controversy in mathematics concerns the necessity and the possibility of constructive proofs. The controversy has been rekindled by recent advances which demonstrate the feasibility of a fully constructive mathematics. This…
The quantum-mechanical description of the world, including human observers, makes substantial use of entanglement. In order to understand this, we need to adopt concepts of truth, probability and time which are unfamiliar in modern…
Despite significant improvements over the last few generations, the discipline of mathematics still counts a disproportionately small number of women among its practitioners. These women are underrepresented as conference speakers, even…
Questions concerning origin of mathematical knowledge and roles of language and intuition (imagery) in mathematical thoughts are long standing and widely debated. By introspection, mathematicians usually have some beliefs regarding these…
We discuss the nature of reality in the ontological context of Penrose's math-matter-mind triangle. The triangle suggests the circularity of the widespread view that math arises from the mind, the mind arises out of matter, and that matter…