3 ms·

Perhaps I'm being a bit harsh. On the other hand, I feel its more similar to asking someone who says "I love reading fiction" what is a book they liked and them

• kandel 3y ago
  Yeah but it is the situation. I remember a roommate saying "I love math!". When I talked with her a bit I understood she likes doing solutions of easy integrals\derivatives because they are simple, relaxing, and rewarding for her - her math classes were easy and she could get accolades by just doing those simple excersizes. Ofcourse the distance between that and a proper field of math is vast. But that was math for her.
• warmcompress 3y ago
  There are comments on HN I find correlate to blithe superciliousness. A light expression of common sentiment (math is beautiful!) without domain knowledge is somehow a marker of social superiority... yeesh. kandel's sibling comment being the kind of reasonable rejoinder that shouldn't have to exist if there was a good faith follow-up to this sort of conversation, instead of turning up the nose...
  • jdeaton 3y ago
    You know what, I think you're right. I should be less judgemental. I'm not sure why I thought that was okay. I think some of it comes from the disappointment when someone describes themselves as loving math being part of their personality, but then when I try to engage with that as a jumping-off point or common interest its like there's nothing there.
    • 93po 3y ago
      Props to you. Thanks for the kind follow-up