PLEKTIX

This week, a conversation flared up on Twitter on whether mathematics can carry human biases, and what such a possibility could even mean. The spark was a statement by the Committee on Minority...

http://plektix.fieldofscience.com/2020/10/does-mathematics-carry-human-biases.html

2019 was a lot of things. But for what I want to say here, 2019 was the year that I realized we might not save ourselves. Just on its face, 2019 was a terrible year if you care about climate c...

http://plektix.fieldofscience.com/2020/01/how-do-we-mourn-human-civilization.html

Two weeks ago, my friend Andi messaged me about a mathematical game she had invented.  She was so excited to share it.  She had coded up a "proof of concept" version in html, and had come up w...

http://plektix.fieldofscience.com/2019/06/ruths-factor-game.html

Donald Trump is poised to become the next US president, despite the fact that Hillary Clinton received over a million more votes than him (and counting ). This would mark the second time in sixt...

http://plektix.fieldofscience.com/2016/11/you-can-win-electoral-college-with-22.html

Eight years ago, I had finished my first year of graduate school in math, and I was at a loss as to what to research.  My original focus, differential geometry, was a beautiful subject to learn...

http://plektix.fieldofscience.com/2014/10/eight-years-ago-i-had-finished-my-first.html

This post is not about science. I'm writing this because the horrific news out of Ferguson, Missouri—the killing of an unarmed man and the subsequent assault on the populace and media —...

http://plektix.fieldofscience.com/2014/08/the-time-cops-pulled-their-guns-on-me.html

My friend Daria Roithmayr alerted me to a working paper of Brian Arthur laying out a vision for a new approach to studying economics.  Brian Arthur is one of the pioneers of complex systems t...

http://plektix.fieldofscience.com/2014/04/quickie-brian-arthurs-vision-of.html

The project of science is largely about asking why things happen.  We seek causal explanations: Why do planets follow elliptical orbits? Why does water become solid in cold temperatures? H...

http://plektix.fieldofscience.com/2014/01/how-natural-processes-can-create-meaning.html

You may not be aware of it, but there is a battle afoot in the theory of evolution.  The fight is over inclusive fitness theory—an approach to studying the evolution of cooperation.  I, toge...

http://plektix.fieldofscience.com/2013/12/whats-deal-with-inclusive-fitness-theory.html

I've been on a kick lately of re-reading my old favorite fantasy novels. I started with some of Lloyd Alexander's Prydain Chronicles , and am now going back through Ursula K. LeGuin's Earthsea T...

http://plektix.fieldofscience.com/2012/04/on-math-and-magic.html

I'm a mathematician who studies evolution. I'm also a person who thinks about how people can find meaning and purpose in their lives. And so, combining these, I've spent a fair bit of time thinki...

http://plektix.fieldofscience.com/2012/04/can-we-find-meaning-in-evolution.html

Inequality is a national conversation topic now, thanks largely to the efforts of Occupy Wall Street and the broader Occupy movement. Fundamental questions are being asked, such as "Must inequ...

http://plektix.fieldofscience.com/2011/11/origins-of-inequality.html

This week, the field of science bloggers are addressing the question "Are we doomed? "  It's a good question.  There is no shortage of evidence that we are, in fact, doomed.  But as an incorr...

http://plektix.fieldofscience.com/2011/08/demographic-transitions-and-future-of.html

Last post , I used the example of a protest against peanut allergy-related procedures to explore how the American conception of "rights" may be changing. In particular, I suggested that idea...

http://plektix.fieldofscience.com/2011/04/freedom-and-public-goods.html

Parents are picketing a school in Edgewater, Florida because of restrictions the school put in place to protect a child with a peanut allergy (thanks to my sister for alerting me): To summari...

http://plektix.fieldofscience.com/2011/03/peanut-allergies-and-future-of.html

Like many of my fellow lefties, I'm disillusioned with current US politics. In my view, we have a president who pursued an admirable, ambitious agenda for two years, but failed to win sufficient ...

http://plektix.fieldofscience.com/2010/12/game-theory-and-obamas-mistake.html

Found on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal , via The Astronomist , the cleanest illustration I've seen anywhere of the Prisoner's Dilemma : The comic ends with a (brief) survey of attempts to c...

http://plektix.fieldofscience.com/2010/10/prisoners-dilemma-on-saturday-morning.html

This weekend I saw "Waiting for Superman" a documentary directed by Davis Guggenheim of Inconvenient Truth fame.  It's ostensibly about how great teachers are the key to saving our education sy...

http://plektix.fieldofscience.com/2010/10/dont-wait-for-superman.html

One of the aims of this blog is to give the general public a sense of what we applied mathematicians and other non-laboratory scientists actually do with our time. An earlier post addressed the ...

http://plektix.fieldofscience.com/2010/07/inside-mathematicians-studio.html

A new paper hit the internet today. "The Evolution of Eusociality " by Martin Nowak, Corina Tarnita, and E.O. Wilson re-frames an old evolutionary question and strikes a blow in an increasingly h...

http://plektix.fieldofscience.com/2010/08/eusociality-and-blow-to-kin-selection.html

Evolutionary theorist Susan Blackmore argues in the New York Times (and elsewhere ) that a new form of evolution is emerging, based on the replication of digital information. This would be th...

http://plektix.fieldofscience.com/2010/08/is-new-mode-of-evolution-emerging.html

I wrote a while back on a high school that uses games as its primary pedagogical tool. NPR's All Things Considered has a new report on the school. Excerpt: > "In math, we're traveling aro...

http://plektix.fieldofscience.com/2010/07/update-on-game-based-high-school.html

Evolution-inspired animated street art, and one of the most amazing works of art I've seen in any medium:

http://plektix.fieldofscience.com/2010/07/big-bang-big-boom.html

I may be primarily an evolutionary theorist nowadays, but I have many interests, and this summer is proving to be a good time to explore some areas not directly connected to my need to publish. L...

http://plektix.fieldofscience.com/2010/06/quantum-reality-and-measurement-paradox.html

Well... it's been quite a month. This April I (a) successfully defended my PhD thesis, and (b) won a Templeton Foundation fellowship to work with Martin Nowak at Harvard for two years. For those ...

http://plektix.fieldofscience.com/2010/05/future-of-evolutionary-theory.html