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"What has complexity theory done recently that is of practical importance?" It is probably worth noting that "practical importance" is probably the least usefu
by nochiel 16y ago
"What has complexity theory done recently that is of practical importance?"
It is probably worth noting that "practical importance" is probably the least useful measure of the value of pure research. In fact, historically, applications emerge from high level mathematics which was began with no practical applications initially in mind.
- dnautics 16y agothen it's not "on the brink". It's true that stuff like the fourier transform led the information revolution, and that it was discovered in 1700, but it was not "on the brink" in the 1700s. It's not "on the brink" until I can explain how it functions to a lay person, in one sentence to explain what it does and in one sentence why they should care. E.G: Fourier transform: "It's something which takes a complicated wave and finds out what simple waves add up to the complicated wave. This is useful, for example, because sounds are complicated waves, if you know what simple waves there are, you can do things like autotuning."
- nochiel 16y agoTo be fair, in the article he qualifies his title by saying that, "I think that complexity theory is on the verge of major breakthroughs of all kinds...potentially major advances across the entire spectrum of theory.(emphasis mine throughout)" Clearly you have a rather unique idea of what "on the brink" might mean, namely that the field is on the verge of providing breakthroughs that have concrete applications. That might be a rather limiting point of view that somewhat cheapens the value of the article.