3 Responses to “Lindsay Graham”

1. 1 1 nobody.really
   August 3, 2026 at 3:18 am

   >Say what you will about him…

   Ok. He was a dick.

   (Thirty yrs ago, Mike Doonesbury gave a speech introducing presidential candidate Steve Forbes, culminating with “Call me a fool! Call me a crazy dreamer! But I truly believe that Steve Forbes will be the next president of the United States!” The meagre audience dutifully responded with “Fool!” “Crazy dreamer!”

   Sometimes you get what you ask for.)

2. 2 2 Steve Landsburg
   August 3, 2026 at 9:40 am

   nobody.really: I do not dispute this.

3. 3 3 nobody.really
   August 4, 2026 at 4:43 am

   Next topic (again pulling from memory):

   I recall you waxing eloquent about mathematics, and an irreducible, hard-to-articulate quality called “elegance,” involved in mathematical proofs. I came away with a sense that a hedonic quality was central to advanced mathematics.

   Today (August 4, 2026), I received Noah Smith’s post “The end of the age of heroes.” The post notes that AI is making great strides in mathematical discoveries—and that this is triggering a sense of loss and despair among mathematicians. The joy of the enterprise is not in HAVING the answers, but in FINDING the answers.

   This sounds like a scene from Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, with professional philosophers objecting to the supercomputer Deep Thought searching for the meaning of life, the universe and everything. We’re supposed to laugh at these self-interested philosophers. But I can’t help but share the vague sense of loss of the mathematicians.

   My own mathematics background was more humble, but I recall the sense of satisfaction in a sudden flash of insight. As my studies grew more challenging, I began shifting away from real internalization to simply memorizing. That was the beginning of the end of my mathematics career; I was able to pass tests, but the joy was gone. So I find it easy to project that sense of loss onto the mathematicians in Smith’s post.

   I’d be interested in hearing your take on this. (Maybe start a new thread for that discussion.)