Why is Math Hard? - A Meta-Mathematics Perspective | Stephen Wolfram and Lex Fridman

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  • Опубліковано 22 січ 2025

КОМЕНТАРІ • 441

  • @thelostmarbles4310
    @thelostmarbles4310 4 роки тому +936

    He looks like he's in jail for being a mathematical criminal.

    • @ogbrosephstalin
      @ogbrosephstalin 4 роки тому +89

      He's the first man to successfully divide by 0. Very dangerous

    • @Coffeehouse_Latte
      @Coffeehouse_Latte 4 роки тому +17

      @@ogbrosephstalin That made me laugh more than it should've.

    • @xybersurfer
      @xybersurfer 4 роки тому +2

      @@ogbrosephstalin is this a reference to something Wolfram said?

    • @ogbrosephstalin
      @ogbrosephstalin 4 роки тому +8

      @@xybersurfer no, it's just a math joke

    • @kumoyuki
      @kumoyuki 4 роки тому

      which one? Fridman? or Wolfram?

  • @tellyourstorymusicbyikson
    @tellyourstorymusicbyikson 4 роки тому +275

    Why does literarily every 50+ mathematician wear a shirt like that? I'm starting to sense it holds some hidden mathematical super powers

    • @ohreally4065
      @ohreally4065 4 роки тому +14

      See 'Academic Tribes & Territories' by Boettcher

    • @nofurtherwest3474
      @nofurtherwest3474 3 роки тому +14

      It may sound petty but that’s one reason I didn’t go deep into math even though I was good at it. I couldn’t bear to be around that shirt all day every day

    • @xijinpig5679
      @xijinpig5679 3 роки тому +5

      My high school math teacher, teaching math extension 2 for HSC (a thing in NSW, Australia, tough as f*ck), looking like Kim K, and she wearing t-shirts like this

    • @k.butler8740
      @k.butler8740 3 роки тому +2

      You can throw a jacket on and look like a pro yet take it off and not have any sleeves to smudge the chalkboard! Lol i never thought about this before but as someone whose been wearing these shirts sence basically puberty it's so true 😂. Also, when staring down a couple blackboards of gibberish it helps to be dressed nice to stay focused, so T-shirts are a no go.

    • @RaffaelloLorenzusSayde
      @RaffaelloLorenzusSayde 3 роки тому +1

      Same with my teacher, except his is a tropical tuxedo with the palm trees lol 🤣👌

  • @samuelarbace5800
    @samuelarbace5800 4 роки тому +800

    Why is understanding why maths is hard, hard?

    • @FXK23
      @FXK23 4 роки тому +74

      Why is understanding why understanding why maths is hard, hard, hard?

    • @UrielCopy
      @UrielCopy 4 роки тому +25

      @@FXK23 Why is understanding ''Why is understanding why understanding why maths is hard, hard, hard'', hard?

    • @FXK23
      @FXK23 4 роки тому +32

      @@UrielCopy That's of course because of Computational Irreducibility!
      (which makes understanding why "Why is understanding ''Why is understanding why understanding why maths is hard, hard, hard'', hard", a bit harder!)

    • @jean6453
      @jean6453 4 роки тому +5

      Lol

    • @chongchonghe3748
      @chongchonghe3748 4 роки тому +3

      Let have a common knowledge that "Math is hard". Problem solved.

  • @jordinward8694
    @jordinward8694 4 роки тому +43

    "Mathematics is the exploration of the world through a proof trajectory".
    What a brilliant way to define math.

  • @flowerpt
    @flowerpt 4 роки тому +290

    I love when you go deep and I can't understand some of what's being said. Gives me more to go learn about. Please never back down.

    • @sunnychu1840
      @sunnychu1840 4 роки тому +7

      That’s one of the little secrets of life. 👍

    • @rojorohr4723
      @rojorohr4723 4 роки тому +4

      I too can go deep, u know...

    • @John-X
      @John-X 4 роки тому +2

      I know, it's like they're speaking English, and I know they're speaking English, so I can't even say that it sounds like gibberish, but I just can't understand wtf they're saying! This must be what English sounds like to non-English speakers.

    • @seandafny
      @seandafny 4 роки тому +2

      Rhett Melton dammit !!!

    • @sounakroy1933
      @sounakroy1933 3 роки тому

      Keep learning. Keep on repeating. Things will make sense. If you love it.

  • @sergioivanchavessilva4298
    @sergioivanchavessilva4298 4 роки тому +29

    man I can not be more grateful for your interviews. it's like having a direct conversation with brilliant minds. THANKS A LOT , THIS CHEERS ME UP

  • @harmatodlamstel6435
    @harmatodlamstel6435 4 роки тому +197

    This prison has the smartest inmates

  • @pugboi8017
    @pugboi8017 4 роки тому +120

    he uses the word “human mathematics” alot. Alien confirmed. They’re amongst us. He’s trying to computationally irreduce us

    • @millo234
      @millo234 4 роки тому +1

      I think your on to something. In fact the reason why he looks like he is prison is cause he’s a alien in Area 51?! •_•

  • @PC.NickRowan
    @PC.NickRowan 4 роки тому +35

    I just realised why mathematicians never get invited on podcasts

  • @jensgespenst2642
    @jensgespenst2642 4 роки тому +147

    If he wore a robe and replaced "mathematics" with "life" you'd think he just solved existence

    • @mayankraj2294
      @mayankraj2294 4 роки тому

      Wot? Wdym?

    • @vishalsorout
      @vishalsorout 4 роки тому +4

      Existence is already solved. There's no meaning to any of it 😭😭😭

    • @HerveyShmervy
      @HerveyShmervy 4 роки тому +2

      @@vishalsorout based on what?

    • @youssefchaoui2940
      @youssefchaoui2940 4 роки тому +4

      @@HerveyShmervy based on that this isn't a novel. Life has no meaning, the world is a sandbox your life is yours and you can do whatever you want with it.

    • @HerveyShmervy
      @HerveyShmervy 4 роки тому +2

      @@youssefchaoui2940 that isn't so, you can't do anything you want because of our conscience, and how does a novel relate to any of this. Btw I was looking for a more objective answer not subjective

  • @jonatanwestholm
    @jonatanwestholm 4 роки тому +41

    You know you're leaving the biosphere when Lex says "is that something that is accessible to someone like me?"

  • @spencer177
    @spencer177 4 роки тому +40

    His answer to "why is math hard?" is itself hard to follow.

  • @pounchoutz
    @pounchoutz 4 роки тому +70

    Wolfram is one of those mathematicians that says "is" instead of "modeled by"

  • @andrewofaiur
    @andrewofaiur 4 роки тому +6

    I have no idea whats going on but the fact that logic structures can manifest geometrically is really cool, would like to see modeling of that

    • @kumoyuki
      @kumoyuki 4 роки тому

      he doesn;t mean quite the same thing by "geometrically" as the average person would

  • @jamesw3413
    @jamesw3413 4 роки тому +2

    Whoa. I'm researching this topic for an essay I'm writing and this is so complex. I love it

  • @sirbose
    @sirbose 4 роки тому +37

    0:36 Computational Irreducibility

  • @shivamjalotra7919
    @shivamjalotra7919 4 роки тому +29

    Came up the motivation : Finally this would give me some concrete ideas.
    Leaving : Why the f**k I clicked. I am dumb.

    • @Guztav1337
      @Guztav1337 4 роки тому +1

      Think like this instead: Oh, I'm not as smart as Wolfram is.

    • @shivamjalotra7919
      @shivamjalotra7919 4 роки тому

      @@Guztav1337 Yeah this works too.

  • @Twobarpsi
    @Twobarpsi 4 роки тому +174

    Why is math hard? Because teachers can't teach it. I've found math teachers on UA-cam, that can teach me advanced math.

    • @seanmaclean706
      @seanmaclean706 4 роки тому +33

      I came to say exactly this. I've been studying tertiary mathematics for a few years now and some teachers (the ones who teach only rules) can make learning quite difficult; others on the other hand (ones who can form a relationship between seemingly abstract equations and real world applications, as well as derive the equations before you) can teach typically difficult content with relative ease. Knowing and understanding mathematics is quite different from being able to explain it effectively, although both share elements of one another.

    • @Twobarpsi
      @Twobarpsi 4 роки тому

      @@seanmaclean706 well said 👍

    • @qwertyasdfg2219
      @qwertyasdfg2219 4 роки тому +15

      I mean i do understand the teachers myself. Explaining complex math to be easily understood is hard.
      I got good mathematic grades in high school, so my classmates would ask me to tutor them. But I found myself in the position of not being able to explain the mathematics easily to be understood most of the time they probably think I'm just rambling on with sophisticated words. Makes me think, Math is just kinda understood intuitively.

    • @mjfabian86
      @mjfabian86 4 роки тому +10

      The older I get the more I value people who can communicate clearly and teach new concepts well

    • @roflswamp6
      @roflswamp6 4 роки тому +1

      @@mjfabian86 they generally have a well placed Jupiter or lots of sagitarius in their charts

  • @TranceReligion
    @TranceReligion 4 роки тому +20

    Hated math in high school, but after taking a good break and now doing math in my late 20's, math is somewhat ok

  • @tarkajedi3331
    @tarkajedi3331 4 роки тому +6

    Historic ground breaking interview... A good clip but the full video is amazing!

  • @F_Du_Sea
    @F_Du_Sea 4 роки тому +25

    The part before 1:07 means: Math could be infinite, and it's made up by humans. We could measure really complex things sure but that doesn't mean that everything is solvable by simply logic. Logic is limited basically. There might be too many maths to be fully understood by one person. The foundations don't solve everything.

  • @dreambabyxoxo
    @dreambabyxoxo 4 роки тому +9

    Can’t wait to finish college to understand this. I literally tried to use my brain to the fullest and I understood maybe 20% of the conversation. I feel so so dumb rn. I have to study more 💔💔

    • @kumoyuki
      @kumoyuki 4 роки тому +6

      Wolfram is talking serious post-grad maths here...

    • @Guztav1337
      @Guztav1337 4 роки тому +1

      @@kumoyuki Perhaps some of it is even post-doc maths

    • @lokmaneelbachraoui7699
      @lokmaneelbachraoui7699 4 роки тому +3

      This isnt just “graduate college” level....

  • @joeythomas4520
    @joeythomas4520 4 роки тому +14

    Bless this man for creating wolfram alpha, you have made my college life exponentially less painful 😌

  • @unousuck4613
    @unousuck4613 4 роки тому +9

    mathematics surpass every other form of knowledge or field for the simply facts that it has and will last time and seem to have no bound

    • @Beny123
      @Beny123 4 роки тому +2

      I sort of agree. Philosophy as a discipline is more general though .

  • @GabeWeymouth
    @GabeWeymouth 4 роки тому +3

    This is refreshingly clear stuff from Wolfram up to 4:00. Great perspective.

  • @music2me23
    @music2me23 3 місяці тому

    Big shout out to Georgory Chaitin who was one of the founders of algorithmic information theory. He also proved via a LISP program a computer-theoretic result equivalent to Gödel's incompleteness theorem. Find out more in his "The Unknowable" book (1999).

  • @garretthamilton1929
    @garretthamilton1929 4 роки тому +12

    Learning math just takes a lot of time in my experience at least i am beginning algebra and it takes myself a lot of time for me to understand a concept.

    • @jesussaquin6266
      @jesussaquin6266 4 роки тому +2

      Try taking calculus 2 now which is what I'm taking

    • @garretthamilton1929
      @garretthamilton1929 4 роки тому

      jesus saquin well I would but I gotta learn algebra first calculus takes time to trust me man I’ve spent 6 hours on one concept just in algebra so I understand your frustration.

    • @danielwatts3718
      @danielwatts3718 4 роки тому +6

      @@garretthamilton1929 keep up the hard work. It's not always those who understand something the fastest that excel. I found this to be true in my higher level math courses. (High relative to my own experience ,ie multi variable calc, diffyQ etc). I was one who in algebra and pre calculus required lots of time to grasp a concept. However the work ethic I built during that phase allowed me to crush my later math courses. Now most math concepts come easier to me since I know how to learn (since I struggled so much earlier ). Best of luck !

    • @jesussaquin6266
      @jesussaquin6266 4 роки тому

      @@danielwatts3718 yea I agree good job for math is not an easy subject. He will get it

    • @leif1075
      @leif1075 4 роки тому +1

      @@danielwatts3718 what if i don't want it to take long or struggle..i want to be a whiz like Ramanujan or Einstein..i dont want to be normal.

  • @LNVACVAC
    @LNVACVAC 4 роки тому +5

    What most people understand and use as rational tought is heuristics bound, not actually rational.
    When you get to math, physics, chemistry, there is only so far you can get following heuristics before you need a complete and actual rational systematic understanding not only in general but also case specific.

    • @TheR971
      @TheR971 4 роки тому

      What?

    • @EkosPlatinum
      @EkosPlatinum 4 роки тому

      Really interesting, what is an heuristic bound? Some kind of logic limit?

    • @LNVACVAC
      @LNVACVAC 4 роки тому

      @@EkosPlatinum Dependent on evolutionary processing load reduction tools.
      It appears the person is thinking or being rational, but it is actually a very fine tuned instinct. Even apes operate addiction and subtraction this way, but anything more complex than naturals multiplication can't be operated in this manner by humans, although computers do it well by means rational modelled programs.

    • @LNVACVAC
      @LNVACVAC 4 роки тому +1

      @@TheR971 What most people take as rational thinking is actually a very finely tuned instinct in use.

    • @LNVACVAC
      @LNVACVAC 4 роки тому

      Anyone answers 2+2=4 in decimals without thinking (and they will assume it is in decimals). But if you change it to 2√4+2√4=? in decimals people will break, even if it is very basic math (4th grade fundamental year).
      The first operation is answered by means of conventional thinking (heuristic bound), which is instinctive by all interpretations.
      The second is actual rational thought.

  • @BitOftenCtazy
    @BitOftenCtazy 4 роки тому +7

    Remembering the hundreds of algerethems into a specific field is why I'm struggling with math. Instead of years to master, you often times have few weeks to acknowledge every concept. Math in a educational level , moves to fast. In my feeble brain anyways.

    • @SocratesAth
      @SocratesAth 4 роки тому +1

      @Johannes Terzis That's a somewhat disingenuous answer. Memorizing things is not *required* in math, but it certainly helps. The more you know, the less you need to calculate/derive, and therefore the faster you can work. Any good mathematician has a ton of stuff memorized.

  • @adempc
    @adempc 4 роки тому +1

    When he says that math is hard because it is computationally irreducible, I think he is saying that it is just that, irreducible. It can't be simplified in your head, nor on paper, or else you wouldn't be able to say/think what you were trying to say/think (there is a certain amount of syntax necessary to maintain the semantics). i.e., there is no shortcut to thinking the necessary ideas to get through a mathematical thought process.
    Also - it is bizarre that after working with a mathematical idea for a bit it suddenly makes sense and we say that it "clicked". With what do we know it clicked? It is not to be taken for granted that we are aware when we finaly get something. Wolfram speaks of this order-2 space which contains the paths that connect the proof paths.. I wonder if we don't have similar levels like this within our own thinking, and that this "clicking" phenomenon is one order of processing confirming another order.

  • @narutosaga12
    @narutosaga12 4 роки тому +5

    The space of possibilities for a “possible” solution granted it exists is the hardest part of math. There is rarely any vantage point towards the end of any proof except one is very experienced in that specific field. The only thing that persists is human persistence to continue building on mathematics despite it’s difficulty. For 1000s of failed attempts, one has got to work, and that one successful attempt nudges us forward just a slight bit.

    • @Xpistos510
      @Xpistos510 4 роки тому +1

      It's clear that you're intelligent, but I have no idea what you're talking about.

  • @michaelhunte743
    @michaelhunte743 2 роки тому

    I think effectively the infinity of representation within a domain of mathematics is not wrangled in with effective communication. For example triple integral calculus as Length*Width*Height. It's best to have conversations with people who do not understand so you can grow, more than it is to want to stand out in a group of people who think exactly like you do and want to be delineated from others.

  • @markf9461
    @markf9461 4 роки тому

    What he talks about when he mentions paths almost sounds like a neural net, where the weight between nodes corresponds to the distance between elements.

  • @federicovolpe3389
    @federicovolpe3389 4 роки тому +4

    1:42 actually if one can prove that the Riemann hypothesis is undecidable under the peano axioms, then it must be true because if it was false it would be provable as such using the peano axioms.
    Fun stuff.

    • @multimoron11
      @multimoron11 4 роки тому +2

      this is actually not true. it is not possible to prove (using peano) that riemann hypothesis is undecidable under peano axoims because as you point out, that would make peano axioms inconsistent. you could prove the hypothesis is undecidable under peano using a different axiom set (such as ZF, for example).

    • @federicovolpe3389
      @federicovolpe3389 4 роки тому

      @@multimoron11 Wait how would that make PA inconsistent? It would be incomplete but not inconsistent.
      But you're probably correct that you would need to prove that Riemann is undecidable under Peano axioms using something stronger, I'm not sure about that tho, I just remember hearing it in a Numberphile video.

    • @multimoron11
      @multimoron11 4 роки тому +1

      ​@@federicovolpe3389 you are correct that proving RH is undecidable under PA means that RH is true. I'm pointing out this proof of undecidability under PA can't be done using PA, as that is an obvious inconsistency. you would need a different axiom set, if the proof is even possible.

    • @lokmaneelbachraoui7699
      @lokmaneelbachraoui7699 4 роки тому

      I think u both r true tbh

  • @luisgg9496
    @luisgg9496 4 роки тому +7

    LOVE IT. Great work Lex, you have the most interesting guests. Keep it up y que viva tu audiencia de México! :D

  • @quosswimblik4489
    @quosswimblik4489 4 роки тому

    Did u know logirithms have a sister issue. So say your base is 3 then your reverse log is the relation between which root dimension you need when your trying to find your base divided by your rooted base. The questions are 1 is this log as easy to deduce as standard logs and do they add any knowledge/ability to maths and number theory.

  • @todabsolute
    @todabsolute 4 роки тому +13

    I realize how hard it is to understand him if you've never tried to construct math from square one yourself

  • @iestynne
    @iestynne 4 роки тому +2

    This all makes me wonder if wolfram physics is just an alternative expression of mathematics, a different but equivalent format for writing down mathematical ideas... so it's not really about physics specifically, it is just able to express the math that we already use to model physics (so it could work just as well for economics or any other highly mathematical field)

    • @petermerelis7355
      @petermerelis7355 10 місяців тому

      yes the relationship between all these abstractions is unclear

  • @Thewoxter
    @Thewoxter 4 роки тому +7

    Stephen freezes in time for a couple seconds at 2:00 exactly.

  • @robertpirsig5011
    @robertpirsig5011 4 роки тому +10

    Not the most accessible conversation but somewhat interesting.

  • @mymacaintwag
    @mymacaintwag 4 роки тому +4

    I don’t know how people can mention Eric Weinstein and Wolfram in one sentence. Wolfram has done great things in the past and gets very concrete In his explanation, Eric has neither.
    Thanks wolfram, this is
    Just gold!

    • @mymacaintwag
      @mymacaintwag 4 роки тому +5

      Brian Beetle it’s obvious, that Wolfram always explains his ideas, Eric just says, that it’s useless to explain anything, because you don’t understand Dirac (see lex interview). Eric is a very shady character in that regard. I have learnt nothing by watching Eric, in contrast to watching wolfram.

    • @mymacaintwag
      @mymacaintwag 4 роки тому

      @greenapplepear sure, there was just no enough time, sure. But there was enough time Wolfram’s theory is wrong, which Wolfram never said about Eric, because he can’t, because he does not know, I suppose and we know it is not easy to contradict a well thought out theory.
      Wolfram in the other hand said in another interview, that Eric’s work is important, which makes me wonder.

  • @guilhermecadori
    @guilhermecadori 7 місяців тому

    I'm always fascinated by Stephen's explanations, despite the fact the I never understand more than 2% of what he's saying.

  • @nednadima
    @nednadima 4 роки тому +4

    I came for an answer, left more confused!

  • @anand.suralkar
    @anand.suralkar 4 роки тому +89

    Computashskkkdhhaggd disability
    Needed to activate captions to know that that word is irreducibility

  • @jbp6759
    @jbp6759 3 роки тому

    Why did you have to interrupt him at 10:18? I was dying to hear what he was about to say about relating physics to all that.

  • @CleetusDaily
    @CleetusDaily 4 роки тому

    But what can you use this abstract mathematics for ? Like what is it’s use

  • @Artfulscience1
    @Artfulscience1 4 роки тому +1

    These men are clearly far beyond my skills and experience. But as a math/science tutor for 10 years now, I can say that math just isn’t for everyone. Those who get it will always get it with little to no external help-and vice Versa. But I will say, the one thing that my students who struggle HATE when I say, it’s “well, there’s not one sure way to do these problems every time, each one is different.” Some people just know how to do problem solving and utilize ABC 123 logic. People who speak that “language” to them it’s like “well it’s not that hard, you wouldn’t solve it any other way.” And I suppose some people just don’t “speak” that language-which is ok, everyone is just different. Admittedly I’m far from the best mathematician/engineer (BS in Civil), but I know enough to vouch for my experience and work.

  • @krzysztofherdzik1500
    @krzysztofherdzik1500 Рік тому

    Stephen Wolfram is such a great guy, I love his enthusiasm for math. I'd very much like to talk to him (meaning sit & stare with blank expression on my face :D)

  • @mattbrody3565
    @mattbrody3565 4 роки тому +1

    Here's the real reason. Math is a language, but it's not taught as a language. The way teachers tend to understand math and education in general is backwards. They know that people who comprehend things tend to memorize them, but instead of focusing on memorization by comprehension, they attempt comprehension by memorization. It's like being taught a language in sentences. Imagine you only learn how to translate two sentences: "I would like a coffee" and "your car looks nice". You spend 3 hours memorizing those two sentences with no idea what they really mean, and on the test, your teacher asks you to translate this sentence: "I think you left his coffee in the rental car." You think you didn't learn this in class because you didn't memorize this exact sentence, but your teacher expects you to know how to do it because you memorized things from the language, which (somehow) to them means you know the language.
    Instead, you have to speak math, and this is what word problems try to teach you to do, but they also suck because once again, you're taught a formula devoid of context. You're given the answer and told to just mindlessly drill it into your head and accept it.
    If you want math to get easier, give yourself a challenge to work through, something you can't quite solve immediately just by looking at it, but one that can be represented by a physical analog. Once you've found that problem, talk yourself through it. For example, you drill equal sized holes in a plank of wood that are all the same size. The holes are equally spaced from each other and the ends of the wood. Measuring edge to edge (or the material left between the holes, either phrasing works), what is the distance between each hole? Without reading ahead, think about how you'd solve this.
    Start with what you know- the length of the plank, the diameter of the holes, and the number of holes. If you take the length of the plank and subtract the number of holes times the diameter, you have the total remaining width of material between the holes, but that's all of the little wedge spaces. You're looking for the width of one of them. So, you divide by the number of those spaces, which is always one more than the number of holes. That's your answer.
    Let's make it a little tougher. You drill holes in a plank of wood, but there's a region of wood at one end that must remain unscathed, and you drill incrementally until your last hole is tangent to the edge of that region. What is the space between your holes now?

  • @vicsummers9431
    @vicsummers9431 4 роки тому

    I’d love to know Stephen Wolfram’s take on the Yoneda Lemma. Ever since I discovered it I’ve been convinced it is a key to the universe.

  • @conandoyle1740
    @conandoyle1740 8 місяців тому

    0:36 what does he say ?

  • @EliCarlton
    @EliCarlton 4 роки тому +8

    God i am so fascinated by what theyre talking about and I cant even understand 2% of it

    • @programmingpersistence5716
      @programmingpersistence5716 4 роки тому +1

      i am a beginner but it seems like he is talking about why super advanced maths is hard not maths in general..like theorem proving to prove a theorem you need axioms(other solved theorems) as a foundation..if there isnt already available axioms to build from then the problem becomes much more difficult...thats the only part i can really understand here

  • @BangMaster96
    @BangMaster96 4 роки тому +3

    I understand each and every single word individually, but when he puts those word in that order, i get lost

  • @GiorgiSukhitashvili
    @GiorgiSukhitashvili 4 роки тому +15

    typo, do another pull request :)

  • @palana8870
    @palana8870 4 роки тому +2

    The lighting in this room is superb.

  • @familyfungi
    @familyfungi 4 роки тому +1

    "Computational irreducibility" sees a small bump in searches

  • @angelamongsoulspocast2288
    @angelamongsoulspocast2288 4 роки тому +1

    I love your podcasts bro

  • @sams6454
    @sams6454 4 роки тому +3

    What did he say, "rulio multiway system"? Its hard to tell?

    • @vincentcandela4291
      @vincentcandela4291 4 роки тому +1

      Sam S thats what I heard but i'm not sure

    • @sams6454
      @sams6454 4 роки тому

      Vincent Candela i googled it but nothing came up, sometimes I think Lex tries to act like he knows more than he does

    • @alecsandroni1843
      @alecsandroni1843 4 роки тому

      Rulial

  • @preston_is_on_youtube
    @preston_is_on_youtube 4 роки тому +1

    Lex Fridman having to podcast Wolfram from a living space thats crappy enough to surround him with painted concrete block says something about our world

  • @Xpistos510
    @Xpistos510 4 роки тому +4

    It's clear that math is simply the application of logic to numbers. That being said, I didn't understand much else about the latter half of this video. This is one of those videos where I feel smarter for having listened to it, but barely understood it.

    • @christopherminge3558
      @christopherminge3558 4 роки тому +4

      There's probably something wrong with my understanding that someone even more informed could point out, but math isn't just the application of logic to numbers. It's the application of logic to axioms. You can use a set of axioms (i.e. ZFC) which are all you need to do anything we've thought of with numbers, with none of the axioms being explicitly about the notion of numbers. Additionally, there are many topics reachable via these axioms that axioms of numbers would be insufficient to reach. Mathematics is much more than just numbers in increasingly complex logical constructions.

    • @sunnychu1840
      @sunnychu1840 4 роки тому +1

      Think what you are saying is, this is one of those videos that stimulates your curiosity. Most people stop there, but if you follow your curiosity, you will most certainly be smarter.

    • @maynk7096
      @maynk7096 4 роки тому

      I thought Maths was the patterns bound the universe

  • @brendanoshea2936
    @brendanoshea2936 4 роки тому

    im sure its been said many times but i have a sneaky suspicion these apparent connections are more of a reflection of the nature of thought and its structural order.

  • @nalankadi1654
    @nalankadi1654 4 роки тому +3

    I don't understand his explanation of why mathematics being doable is relevant. He seems to just go off on a tangent saying something along the lines of, "There's an analogue of causal invariance, and there's this thing called homotopic type theory which came out of category theory and its an abstraction of the abstraction of mathematics and there's a thing called the univalence axiom, this axiom is equivalent to causal invariance." And I don't see how that tangent did anything to explain what he was saying.

    • @orlock20
      @orlock20 4 роки тому

      His definition of math is hard is on the "experimental" and departmental side of mathematics.

  • @MatthewHolevinski
    @MatthewHolevinski 4 роки тому +2

    I would love to watch Mr. Wolfram make all the worlds supercomputers cry, and cry hard.

  • @adityabaghel1270
    @adityabaghel1270 Рік тому

    This was amazing!!

  • @amorfati4752
    @amorfati4752 Рік тому

    While I think we can get further in mathematics using computers, I don't think that our brains can keep up. I think I'm quite intelligent, at least I'm good at abstracting and sort of compressing and unifying concepts. However, I think that the specific and the general are at odds, so that I'm merely deleting that which matters. I also think that there's a minimum amount of space needed for complex things which goes beyond my working memory, essentially locking me out of understanding. Similarities, symmetries, morphisms, etc. in mathematics are fairly simple, so it's easy to see that e.g. X relates to Y as Z relates to W, or to stack concepts to make new ones (if math and meta-math exists, then there's an infinite hierarchy of metas). So any person who is sufficiently intelligent should have an intuition for things like group theory before hearing about them, simply because they've already noticed that level of similarity in real life.
    But what about a concept which forms a more complex structure than just a square, and which doesn't fit in our working memoy? What use is a 200-IQ pattern recognition if the pattern doesn't fit in your mind? And what if math isn't more compressible than this? Space is stronger than time for a reason (complexity theory). In short, aren't we try to navigate a space which is far too large?

  • @jhde9067
    @jhde9067 4 роки тому +6

    Jeez, I came hoping to get an answer and left with none XD.
    Honestly though,as someone stated in the comments,maths is difficult because most professors charged with passing the knowledge to us suck at doing it. They might know maths but not able to properly transmit it to a brain that doesn't understand it the same way.

    • @Jacno77
      @Jacno77 4 роки тому

      What a kid response, "its the teachers fault!"

  • @ManfromNowhere233
    @ManfromNowhere233 4 роки тому

    The more words you add, the more tedious it gets. Math, if studied systematically from foundation to complexity is pure fun. Doing math whilst listening to music is so much fun and one doesnt get distracted by it. Music and word-heavy subjects dont always work for me.

  • @tribesman1014
    @tribesman1014 4 роки тому +1

    Back to school with conics, directrix, and iterations.

  • @SoloRenegade
    @SoloRenegade 4 роки тому +18

    Math isn't hard. Most math teachers do a terrible job. I've proven this, and I've seen others do it as well. There are better ways to teach math. I wouldn't change the content, but rather the delivery. I tutor many people in math, from grade school through college level, and the one thing students Always say to me over and over is, "Why didn't they just tell me that from the beginning!?", after I explain it my way. It's become my catch phrase. I've helped students completely turn around their understanding in a course, in as little as 10min before.Too many math teachers were those who never struggled at math the way most do. It came more naturally to them, and so they don't understand why everyone is so confused. I was good at math, but had to work at it, I was not a natural. I have extremely high empathy, which helps me understand another person's point of view as well. I teach others the way I wish I had been taught. Math has been over complicated by these math teachers. Also, some math people want to feel superior over others, and so sometimes will do something to establish their superiority over others, not caring the damage they re doing to math overall. Me, I know most people are perfectly Capable of understanding math no problem. The issue is how it is being taught, and personal motivations of the student as well. Just because someone Can learn something, doesn't mean they Want to.

    • @theuniques1199
      @theuniques1199 4 роки тому +1

      428 Renegade It's because math is just a real belief just like God is a real belief, if you think you're such a logical person, why do you first have to believe in the concept of the illogical before you can have the concept of the logical and you must also first believe in the concept of the logical before you can have the concept of the illogical. You can only believe to be right or wrong, late or early, equal or unequal, etc because you can't have one concept without the other, you can only believe to have one concept without the other. I'll prove right now that all math equations are answered as an approximation, if you can only believe in an infinite number since an infinite number doesn't exist, then the Universe would have to replicate the concept of 0 and 1 infinitely or you wouldn't and couldn't believe in infinity unless you clone your existence infinitely. Try to disprove this theory but you won't, a neutral concept is an inverse concept and vice versa because infinity is the concept of replication and replication is the concept of infinity.

    • @Peter_Pepper_Love
      @Peter_Pepper_Love 4 роки тому

      Give me a teacher to teach me formula and the fibonacci to show me God 🤔💞

    • @tryitout-701
      @tryitout-701 4 роки тому +7

      He is not talking about why it’s hard to learn.

    • @SoloRenegade
      @SoloRenegade 4 роки тому +3

      @W I've thought about it, but I'm more likely to write a whole book on education. I've spent 15+yrs in the college system (too long) as a student, instructor, tutor... As well as worked in 3 different career fields, all of which involved me training people on skills specific to those fields. I've also volunteered in multiple STEM educational programs for kids.
      One key is simply empathy. Another is focusing on what is important (and being able to recognize what is/isn't important). Another is understanding the theory of teaching rather than focusing on mindless procedures to satisfy some arbitrary metric. Repetition is another key concept. Understanding the "Learning Curve", and using it to your advantage. Structuring homework in a FAR better fashion with more realistic and practical approaches to grading. Understanding that people learn more/faster through failure, and by helping others. So many ideas, and applicable aspects, any one of which i could dive into at the drop of a hat and talk for hours.
      Then the trick is to apply all of this to specific topics and in a classroom environment. Once again, I have even more ideas about the classroom environment, and on how to figure out which method to use to teach a subject to a class, since there is always more than one way.
      And so much more. And I have tested these ideas personally, and made adjustments to them based on how it went (and continue to adjust my ideas and methods, and seek out other peoples' ideas).

    • @theuniques1199
      @theuniques1199 4 роки тому

      @@Peter_Pepper_Love How is the belief in God or math different, all language is just make believe which we believe is real, replace all words with a common noun like existence and you'll find that your precious belief in math or God is just a belief that you will always believe is happening for the first time but in reality has happened for the infinite non time.

  • @mwnciboo
    @mwnciboo 4 роки тому

    I suppose, that if you can reduce a problem to a single viable solution, you can then solve for an optimum solution utilising Quantum Computer for exactly what designed for - optimisation problems?

  • @perpetual989
    @perpetual989 2 роки тому

    Good luck to all learning the ‘new science’
    I haven’t read his foundational text but since the recent academic history of string theory, described in much the same way, an infinite potential space that maps to knowledge we know, let’s not lose ourselves sticking to one tribe.
    Always be cautious and celebrate new ideas that attempt to further our model of reality.

  • @empemitheos
    @empemitheos 4 роки тому +9

    Notice that just because something is mathematically consistent, doesn't mean it works in the real world, this guy is on the very edges of what we need to understand to create AI

  • @markcarey67
    @markcarey67 4 роки тому +1

    Everyone's gangsta until shit is computationally irreducible

  • @williamclarkbobasheto8724
    @williamclarkbobasheto8724 4 роки тому +2

    I was listening for a good bit and then I was like wait who is this guy, then I looked at the title and was like :o

  • @2wycked859
    @2wycked859 4 роки тому +2

    Most difficult undergrad mathematics course you took? Go. For me it was advanced calc or abstract algebra.

  • @hack-comic
    @hack-comic 4 роки тому +10

    Him: Computation irreducibility...
    Interviewer: Riiiight.... Riiiight... **confused**

  • @rbettsx
    @rbettsx Рік тому +1

    I'm sorry, there's a lot of very enthusiastic and assertive buzzword-salad here, with a complete lack of rigour. I wind up with the impression of a pseudo-academic pursuit which has manically ballooned in the absence of truly challenging peer review. This man has been the boss of his bubble for too long.

  • @karzmoney1375
    @karzmoney1375 4 роки тому +10

    Most confusing thing I've watched this year

  • @stevenmeyer8211
    @stevenmeyer8211 4 роки тому

    This is the type of problem we had to solve when I was a kid in elementary school in South Africa back in the 1950s.
    One cricket bat costs £14-18-9½ . How many cricket bats can you buy for £100 and how much change will you get?
    £14-18-9 means 14 pounds, 18 shillings and 9.5 pennies. £1 = 20 shillings and 1 shilling = 12 pennies. There were no handy pocket calculators back then.
    Answer:
    £100 = 48,000 halfpennies
    Once cricket bat costs 7,171 halfpennies
    divide 7,171 into 48,000 gives 6 remainder 4,974. So you can buy 6 bats and have 4,974 halfpennies in change. 4,974 halfpennies works out to £10-7-3 in change.
    And if you couldn't do that you were a wuss.
    The smallest coin was a farthing. One farthing was a quarter of a penny.

  • @twenty-fifth420
    @twenty-fifth420 4 роки тому

    Me, a writer but also shit with math: “Shit this is the perfect video, I can finally make my dreams come true of learning math!”
    Alien Mathematician: 0:36 “Computational Irreducibility”
    Also me: “What the fuck does that even mean?!?!?”

  • @jag0937eb
    @jag0937eb 4 роки тому

    what is this "computational aerodusibility"?

  • @frosty8655
    @frosty8655 4 роки тому +25

    Why is he in a prison cell ?

  • @kennethhicks2113
    @kennethhicks2113 4 роки тому +3

    I phrase I coined many years ago, "There is nothing hard, just things you haven't learned yet."

  • @ylracci
    @ylracci 4 роки тому

    thank you for helping us enlighten our minds..

  • @JohnGFisher
    @JohnGFisher 2 роки тому

    Wolfram on point here.

  • @markkennedy9767
    @markkennedy9767 4 роки тому +23

    Dunno why people call Wolfram arrogant. He comes across as really down to earth to me

    • @spuriustadius5034
      @spuriustadius5034 4 роки тому +3

      He is saying stuff like "math is hard" because of "computational irreducibility". When normal people say "math is hard" what they really mean is that it's difficult to practice enough to become fluent in doing calculations and proofs-- like in high school algebra or geometry. This guy is saying math is hard because of stuff like Godel's Incompleteness theorem and the most formal abstract research-grade problems. That's basically saying everything else is trivial except for extreme edge of mathematical knowledge which is accessible only to something like a few hundred people in the world. That's pretty smug, I think.

    • @jacob-magnuson
      @jacob-magnuson 4 роки тому +2

      Spurius Tadius To be fair, I think the struggles that a normal person has with math can still be viewed through the lens of computational irreducibility.
      How “difficult” math is to a person depends on their experience/exposure to the underlying subjects, but complexity is still important. Irrespective of the subject of level of maths, people will tend to struggle less with one-step solutions, and struggle more with multi-step ones - especially if the most optimal solution _requires_ several steps.
      This mirrors what Wolfram is saying, I think. He could probably use a broader set of examples though.

    • @spuriustadius5034
      @spuriustadius5034 4 роки тому +2

      @@skellington2000 Fair enough, Wolfram is "an expert", and us mere mortals are left to scratch our heads and wonder what he is on to. At the end of the day, however, he just leaves us with grandiose claims and not much has come of his "New Kind of Science". Except for the people who work for him, there does not seem to be others actively pursuing his ideas about cellular automata nor these newer hyper-graph concepts. In other words, he talks a big game but doesn't have anything to show for it. I think he would have more success if he were more willing to communicate and collaborate with others.
      Finally, remember that Lex Fridman's youtube channel is effectively for "the general public". For Wolfram to rapidly toss out concept after concept each of which require (at a minimum) a practicing PHD level understanding of theoretical physics and/or math is bad judgement-- I would say that's smug and posturing behavior. Sadly I think that there's an audience for that. Many people appreciate obfuscation. I had thought it was limited to the humanities (if you remember the Sokal affair), but it seems to afflict some STEM audiences as well-- especially with these "theory of everything" people like Wolfram and Eric Weinstein.

    • @spuriustadius5034
      @spuriustadius5034 4 роки тому

      @@ElmerGLue Machine learning is an umbrella that covers a wide range of topics pulled from statistics, mathematics and computer science. There is nothing esoteric about it at all. It came to be in it's current form because some decidedly non-fringe computer scientists realized that, finally, we have enough speed and memory to crunch vast amounts of data and implement non-trivial neural nets (something which was first sketched out in the 60's by Marvin Minsky amongst others). Today, anyone with a modest technical background can fire up Keras (or other tools) and have a shot at using machine learning in their domain.
      But more to the point here, I think you'll find that world class scientists who make the effort to speak to the general public are able to adjust their language and express the essence of their ideas with clarity to the general public. There's a good example right here on Lex's channel (ua-cam.com/video/IUHkhB366tE/v-deo.html) with Jim Gates who works in one of the most arcane of subjects, Super Symmetry Theory. He is able to edit himself and cogently discuss his work without using a firehose of specialist jargon. I am just saying that Wolfram should do the same and I judge him negatively because he does not (and this is separate from my own skepticism of what he proposes).

    • @abdullahsheriff3585
      @abdullahsheriff3585 4 роки тому +1

      my stat mech prof said he made fun of him after a confrence for having a "trivial" job as an experimental physicist.

  • @craigrik2699
    @craigrik2699 4 роки тому

    the path is a long road, there are no shortcuts, learn the language as you go

  • @LOSTINMAIA
    @LOSTINMAIA 4 роки тому +1

    some prisons do look like that,,.....,but aren't we all in a prison ???

  • @imranq9241
    @imranq9241 4 роки тому +1

    Math isn’t hard. It is badly taught though at the higher levels.
    Also math is easier to start with so there are more people doing it and therefore more competition. This competition just increases the amount and sophistication of today’s mathematics to incredible levels. Back in the 1600s one person could know most about all fields of mathematics. Not even the best mathematicians can know more than 1% of the whole field today.

  • @MacarthurLouissaint-rz7tl
    @MacarthurLouissaint-rz7tl 4 роки тому

    Hey buddy can you interview James Woodward and Steve Bassett?

  • @latt.qcd9221
    @latt.qcd9221 4 роки тому +1

    Mathematics is hard because it requires abstract thinking which humans suck at.
    Also, like any language, it takes work to learn it and, frankly, most people's struggle with it is not due to Mathematics, itself, but their own laziness.

    • @cord420247
      @cord420247 4 роки тому

      Math is a scam created by con artists

  • @nanoseeker1239
    @nanoseeker1239 4 роки тому +1

    All math in some way can be broken down in percentage i did it once for machining then my note book was
    Stolen years ago .

  • @erispe
    @erispe 4 роки тому +1

    This did not make it any clearer why I was terrible at math in school.

    • @hhandle
      @hhandle Рік тому

      to summarise he finds patterns across mathematical fields and generalise thats what he says category theory and set theory both used for abstracting many fields in math

  • @garbojaxmcbruce9626
    @garbojaxmcbruce9626 4 роки тому +10

    42069 IQ podcast right here

  • @szp9925
    @szp9925 3 роки тому

    I find it rich that they are talking metaphysics this time, when a real metaphysical analysis of all the AI, Alien, futurist paradigm they hold so dearly would be utterly destroyed.

    • @vitorodino9851
      @vitorodino9851 3 роки тому

      Care to elaborate? Since you seem to know it all..

  • @staygold5280
    @staygold5280 4 роки тому +2

    But can you give change back from a $20???

  • @ciprh1
    @ciprh1 4 роки тому +1

    What language is this?

    • @hhandle
      @hhandle Рік тому

      to summarise he finds patterns across mathematical fields and generalise thats what he says category theory and set theory both used for abstracting many fields in math

  • @Mr_i_o
    @Mr_i_o 4 роки тому

    At 3:46, Maths is not a Battle Royale - woah?!

  • @javierborda8684
    @javierborda8684 4 роки тому

    5:08 "univalence axiom" in homotopic type theory, That's you spell that bloody thing. So we don't collapse google.

  • @wiscgaloot
    @wiscgaloot 4 роки тому +1

    It isn't hard for everybody. There are 12 year olds doing calculus. It's hard for Americans because we've been taught the wrong way for at least 70 years.

    • @wiscgaloot
      @wiscgaloot 4 роки тому

      @@franciscoreyes7370 And some of the world's worst elementary and middle school math teachers. People go into teaching because they hate math. And yes, calculus is advanced--Einstein mastered it at age 15, not 12.