This comment immediately clarified a thought I was trying to form after watching the video, which is: math is inherently part social activity, like almost every

This comment immediately clarified a thought I was trying to form after watching the video, which is: math is inherently part social activity, like almost everything else we do. Grant first described the ego thing in embarrassed negative terms like ‘childish’, but it’s a good idea to recognize that this self-deprecating framing isn’t the only way to look at it. Math is a language we learn and use to communicate, and being good (and being seen as being good) at speaking the language is usually an important step to taking part in the conversation.