No doubt, Kathleen Stock is a far more courageous woman than I. But there are different ways to fight battles. Instead of confrontation I don't even need to nu

No doubt, Kathleen Stock is a far more courageous woman than I. But there are different ways to fight battles. Instead of confrontation I don't even need to nudge my students to focus on what is important, for us to safely ignore well meaning do-gooders and direct all our energies into doing actual good. My strategy is letting them become the change I want to see in the world - despite indignant moralising from the sidelines that we are using "white man's maths" to stop black children starving. This week I am working with three women, all obviously > 140 IQs who are the daughters of farmers in Africa. This is their big hope to bring independence to their countries through agriculture and AI. We're using machine learning to identify crop pests and select seeds. That mean using mathematics. But while I am teaching them segmentation and pattern recognition in OpenCV I shouldn't have to worry every day that the department may close, the professors are laid-off and I'll never get to see these girls take back from the colonists what I think the world owes them. Why? because academics can no longer focus on doing their job, well and in good faith. The only dignified response is to smile and get on with your project regardless.