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David Bessis: What is Math? How Do You Learn It?
What is mathematics, really? Mathematician David Bessis joins me to argue that math isn't about numbers in a Platonic realm or a meaningless game of symbols—it's a cognitive technology for rewiring your brain. We explore why the official definitions of mathematics have been unresolved for 2,300 years, why understanding something means finding it obvious, and how the gap between a beginner and Terence Tao looks less like genetic destiny and more like compound interest on intuition. When asked what mathematics fundamentally is, his answer cuts through millennia of philosophy: it's what happens in your head when you pretend something is true until it feels real.
LINKS MENTIONED:
Papers, books, websites:
- https://davidbessis.substack.com/
- https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=YmJL9KwAAAAJ
- https://amazon.com/dp/0300283288?tag=toe08-20
- https://davidbessis.substack.com/p/the-magic-of-mathematical-intuition
- https://davidbessis.substack.com/p/weve-been-wrong-about-math-for-2300
- https://arxiv.org/abs/math/9404236
- https://amazon.com/dp/0387900926?tag=toe08-20
- https://davidbessis.substack.com/p/the-curious-case-of-broken-theorems
- https://mathworld.wolfram.com/FermatsLastTheorem.html
- https://xenaproject.wordpress.com/2024/12/11/fermats-last-theorem-how-its-going/
- https://gwern.net/doc/math/1979-hersh.pdf
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_of_universals
- https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/set-theory/zf.html
- https://imperialcollegelondon.github.io/FLT/blueprint/
- https://amazon.com/dp/1015393233?tag=toe08-20
- https://annals.math.princeton.edu/2015/181-3/p01
- https://arxiv.org/abs/math/0610778
- https://pi.math.cornell.edu/~bts82/events/homotopyF20/notes/bar-construction-typed.pdf
- https://www.edge.org/conversation/reuben_hersh-reuben-hersh-1927-2020
- https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Ramanujan/
- https://amazon.com/dp/1107536510?tag=toe08-20
- https://viennot.org/abjc-lectures.html
- https://pdf.sciencedirectassets.com/272332/1-s2.0-S0021869306X06555/1-s2.0-S0021869305006150/main.pdf
Videos:
- https://youtu.be/tYgiVnQubyw
- https://youtu.be/RX1tZv_Nv4Y
- https://youtu.be/73IdQGgfxas
- https://youtu.be/lhpRAWxvY5s
- https://youtu.be/rJz_Badd43c
- https://youtu.be/c8iFtaltX-s
- https://youtu.be/81sPQGIWEfM
- https://youtu.be/wbP0KjWm0pw
- https://youtu.be/mTwvecBthpQ
- https://youtu.be/_sTDSO74D8Q
- https://youtu.be/DeTm4fSXpbM
SOCIALS:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOEwithCurt
- Discord Invite: https://discord.com/invite/kBcnfNVwqs
Guests do not pay to appear. Theories of Everything receives revenue solely from viewer donations, platform ads, and clearly labelled sponsors; no guest or associated entity has ever given compensation, directly or through intermediaries.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
View all episodes
By Theories of Everything
5
1313 ratings
What is mathematics, really? Mathematician David Bessis joins me to argue that math isn't about numbers in a Platonic realm or a meaningless game of symbols—it's a cognitive technology for rewiring your brain. We explore why the official definitions of mathematics have been unresolved for 2,300 years, why understanding something means finding it obvious, and how the gap between a beginner and Terence Tao looks less like genetic destiny and more like compound interest on intuition. When asked what mathematics fundamentally is, his answer cuts through millennia of philosophy: it's what happens in your head when you pretend something is true until it feels real.
LINKS MENTIONED:
Papers, books, websites:
- https://davidbessis.substack.com/
- https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=YmJL9KwAAAAJ
- https://amazon.com/dp/0300283288?tag=toe08-20
- https://davidbessis.substack.com/p/the-magic-of-mathematical-intuition
- https://davidbessis.substack.com/p/weve-been-wrong-about-math-for-2300
- https://arxiv.org/abs/math/9404236
- https://amazon.com/dp/0387900926?tag=toe08-20
- https://davidbessis.substack.com/p/the-curious-case-of-broken-theorems
- https://mathworld.wolfram.com/FermatsLastTheorem.html
- https://xenaproject.wordpress.com/2024/12/11/fermats-last-theorem-how-its-going/
- https://gwern.net/doc/math/1979-hersh.pdf
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Problem_of_universals
- https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/set-theory/zf.html
- https://imperialcollegelondon.github.io/FLT/blueprint/
- https://amazon.com/dp/1015393233?tag=toe08-20
- https://annals.math.princeton.edu/2015/181-3/p01
- https://arxiv.org/abs/math/0610778
- https://pi.math.cornell.edu/~bts82/events/homotopyF20/notes/bar-construction-typed.pdf
- https://www.edge.org/conversation/reuben_hersh-reuben-hersh-1927-2020
- https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Ramanujan/
- https://amazon.com/dp/1107536510?tag=toe08-20
- https://viennot.org/abjc-lectures.html
- https://pdf.sciencedirectassets.com/272332/1-s2.0-S0021869306X06555/1-s2.0-S0021869305006150/main.pdf
Videos:
- https://youtu.be/tYgiVnQubyw
- https://youtu.be/RX1tZv_Nv4Y
- https://youtu.be/73IdQGgfxas
- https://youtu.be/lhpRAWxvY5s
- https://youtu.be/rJz_Badd43c
- https://youtu.be/c8iFtaltX-s
- https://youtu.be/81sPQGIWEfM
- https://youtu.be/wbP0KjWm0pw
- https://youtu.be/mTwvecBthpQ
- https://youtu.be/_sTDSO74D8Q
- https://youtu.be/DeTm4fSXpbM
SOCIALS:
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/TOEwithCurt
- Discord Invite: https://discord.com/invite/kBcnfNVwqs
Guests do not pay to appear. Theories of Everything receives revenue solely from viewer donations, platform ads, and clearly labelled sponsors; no guest or associated entity has ever given compensation, directly or through intermediaries.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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