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> [...] A Hidden Dimension in Natural Language Mmmh > [...] We show that in many data sequences — from texts in different languages to melodies and genomes H

by BenoitP 10y ago

> [...] A Hidden Dimension in Natural Language Mmmh > [...] We show that in many data sequences — from texts in different languages to melodies and genomes Hum, ehrm > [...] natural languages are poorly approximated by Markov processes. Alright, alright > [...] This model class captures the essence of probabilistic context-free grammars Ok, ok > [...] and cosmological inflation Wat. Out of nowhere, Creation of the Univerve. ------------- I'm always baffled by the ability to draw parallels. Did a colleague take at peek at the screen and said, hey I have the same equations?

ASpring 10y ago
One of the common threads I've noticed between the best researchers I know is their uncanny ability to draw these parallels between the most obscure domains.
- jakub_h 10y ago
  Heh! For some reason, that reminded me of this famous conversation: "...and that, my liege, is how we know the Earth to be banana-shaped." "This new learning amazes me, Sir Bedevere. Explain again how sheep's bladders may be employed to prevent earthquakes."
Gargoyle 10y ago
Worth noting the authors, Henry Lin and Max Tegmark, are both astrophysicists. Among other things.
- spdustin 10y ago
  Not to nitpick, Max Tegmark is a cosmologist. I only recently learned the difference when I called a cosmologist friend an astrophysicist. Cosmology deals with the big stuff, almost philosophically, like: "where did the universe come from" and "what is the fate of the universe", while astrophysics deals with the nature of the things within, like: "how do stars form" and "what happens when black holes collide". Max is deeply invested in modeling, analysis and prediction software, and I suspect did the bulk of the work in the paper. Henry Lin is a student who is focused on astrophysics. He gave an interesting TED talk (http://www.ted.com/speakers/henry_lin http://www.ted.com/speakers/henry_lin) a few years back about studying distant galaxy clusters. Henry is energetic and almost viscerally inspired by the beauty of science and mathematics, such a wonderful quality! His voice is definitely in the prose of the paper.
jakub_h 10y ago
> Did a colleague take at peek at the screen and said, hey I have the same equations? This would an interesting thing to try - a computer system that would scan all the papers for math and find parallels. I think we already have something like term indexing for deductive systems?
- kough 10y ago
  This is theoretically very possible, and I know that at least a few people (http://ccimi.maths.cam.ac.uk/projects/create-semantic-search-engine-mathematical-literature/ http://ccimi.maths.cam.ac.uk/projects/create-semantic-search...) are working on it.
  - jakub_h 10y ago
    Very yummy, thanks!
- schoen 10y ago
  One of the goals of OEIS is to discover when the same integer sequence arises in different mathematical contexts, and to confirm whether it's really the same sequence, which then gives the opportunity to prove why it's the same. That might be a bit of a narrower domain, but it seems to work out pretty well! https://oeis.org/ https://oeis.org/
evanb 10y ago
Max Tegmark is a cosmologist who writes ~5 serious papers and then one "out there" paper. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Tegmark https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Tegmark
crypto5 10y ago
Maybe this whole article has been generated by one of their models..

by BenoitP 10y ago

ASpring 10y ago

One of the common threads I've noticed between the best researchers I know is their uncanny ability to draw these parallels between the most obscure domains.

jakub_h 10y ago
Heh! For some reason, that reminded me of this famous conversation: "...and that, my liege, is how we know the Earth to be banana-shaped." "This new learning amazes me, Sir Bedevere. Explain again how sheep's bladders may be employed to prevent earthquakes."

Gargoyle 10y ago

Worth noting the authors, Henry Lin and Max Tegmark, are both astrophysicists. Among other things.

spdustin 10y ago
Not to nitpick, Max Tegmark is a cosmologist. I only recently learned the difference when I called a cosmologist friend an astrophysicist. Cosmology deals with the big stuff, almost philosophically, like: "where did the universe come from" and "what is the fate of the universe", while astrophysics deals with the nature of the things within, like: "how do stars form" and "what happens when black holes collide". Max is deeply invested in modeling, analysis and prediction software, and I suspect did the bulk of the work in the paper. Henry Lin is a student who is focused on astrophysics. He gave an interesting TED talk (http://www.ted.com/speakers/henry_lin http://www.ted.com/speakers/henry_lin) a few years back about studying distant galaxy clusters. Henry is energetic and almost viscerally inspired by the beauty of science and mathematics, such a wonderful quality! His voice is definitely in the prose of the paper.

jakub_h 10y ago

> Did a colleague take at peek at the screen and said, hey I have the same equations? This would an interesting thing to try - a computer system that would scan all the papers for math and find parallels. I think we already have something like term indexing for deductive systems?

kough 10y ago
This is theoretically very possible, and I know that at least a few people (http://ccimi.maths.cam.ac.uk/projects/create-semantic-search-engine-mathematical-literature/ http://ccimi.maths.cam.ac.uk/projects/create-semantic-search...) are working on it.
- jakub_h 10y ago
  Very yummy, thanks!
schoen 10y ago
One of the goals of OEIS is to discover when the same integer sequence arises in different mathematical contexts, and to confirm whether it's really the same sequence, which then gives the opportunity to prove why it's the same. That might be a bit of a narrower domain, but it seems to work out pretty well! https://oeis.org/ https://oeis.org/

evanb 10y ago

Max Tegmark is a cosmologist who writes ~5 serious papers and then one "out there" paper. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Tegmark https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Tegmark

crypto5 10y ago

Maybe this whole article has been generated by one of their models..