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It's not clear whether it is desirable to build a new Göttingen. Communications and travel may have largely obviated the advantages of assembling brilliant mind

It's not clear whether it is desirable to build a new Göttingen. Communications and travel may have largely obviated the advantages of assembling brilliant minds in one place, other than temporarily for conferences and visits. "Monumental Proof Settles Geometric Langlands Conjecture" https://www.quantamagazine.org/monumental-proof-settles-geometric-langlands-conjecture-20240719/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/monumental-proof-settles-geom... is an interesting article that describes the multi-year effort to obtain this important result. The final proof has nine authors affiliated with seven institutions: Denis Gaitsgory, Max Planck Institute; Sam Raskin and Joakim Færgeman, Yale University; Dima Arinkin, University of Wisconsin; Nick Rozenblyum, University of Toronto; Dario Beraldo, University College London; Lin Chen, Tsinghua University; Justin Campbell and Kevin Lin, University of Chicago.

noch 2y ago
> Communications and travel may have largely obviated the advantages of assembling brilliant minds in one place, other than temporarily for conferences and visits. Lmao. Only someone who has never been a part of a high performance team with excellent mentors available in person throughout the day, can possibly believe this. Alternatively, try this sentence: "Communications and travel may have largely obviated the advantages of a married couple living together in one place to raise a family."
- unserioustubes 2y ago
  [dead]
- neaanopri 2y ago
  Mathematicians aren't having sex or changing diapers, math can all be in LaTeX
  - noch 2y ago
    > Mathematicians aren't having sex or changing diapers, math can all be in LaTeX Sex and LaTex! I dig it!
  - raverbashing 2y ago
    Now this is the part I take issue with Most likely their discussion were over zoom while scribbling over a blackboard.
    - funcDropShadow 2y ago
      I remember having an instant messanger 20years ago which would render LaTeX equations on the fly. The only one that can do it today is Emacs.
  - Al-Khwarizmi 2y ago
    The analogy is a bit hyperbolic but not off base at all. In my field, there is a lot of discussion over whether conferences should go virtual to ensure "equity", "inclusion", and all that; and to save pollution and CO2 from plane travel. According to the defenders of that take, current technology makes meeting in person totally unnecessary and online conferences can replace physical ones just fine. But curiously enough, everyone who I've seen defend that position are at elite universities in places like California where they have a high concentration of top figures in the field within a short drive. Almost no one from more remote areas (like myself) defends that... largely because many of us have stories where those polluting plane tickets helped us connect with relevant people in the field, learn and boost our career. But back to the marriage analogy... when those people from top universities make that comment, I usually tell them that if they are so interested in equity, diversity, not polluting and all that jazz, and since according to them online interaction is enough and getting together physically is just a luxury, they should then take remote PhD students (which would even let them select from a larger pool!). It's an obvious conclusion of their position, right? The answer is always crickets.
    - bonoboTP 2y ago
      There's truth in both. For countries with little research funding (Eastern Europe in my case), travelling to top conferences is often prohibitively expensive. Top AI conferences are regularly in places like Hawaii. This excludes many regions and those researchers must submit to lower tier conferences, or - as already commonly happens - they have to move to a richer country and do research there. Remote conferences and lower publishing fees definitely help people at these underfunded places. But it is true that being there in person is still much more valuable. Informal face to face interaction at posters, joint dinners between different research groups, mingling during coffee breaks etc. are not replaceable by a Zoom Q&A.
  - bongoman42 2y ago
    \LaTeX prevents conception of new ideas. You really need to rawdog it on a black or whiteboard to see that.
- sashank_1509 2y ago
  I have to agree, high performance teams need to be together in proximity to do world changing stuff (or maybe in AR worlds that are as natural as real worlds in the future). Remote work is for big standard work that doesn’t require too much innovation or if 1 person is capable of carrying the team. Yet to see counter examples to this
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
rcarr 2y ago
If I remember right Deep Work by Cal Newport talks about Bell Labs and how that came to be such an epicentre of invention back in the day. The author reckons that the architecture of the building had a lot to do with it. It allowed the employees to do uninterrupted, concentrated work when needed but then when exiting their offices the design of the building facilitated lots of chance encounters with other people in other departments which meant a lot of exchanging of ideas and knowledge. You don't get this kind of "hive mind" effect with remote work.

noch 2y ago

> Communications and travel may have largely obviated the advantages of assembling brilliant minds in one place, other than temporarily for conferences and visits. Lmao. Only someone who has never been a part of a high performance team with excellent mentors available in person throughout the day, can possibly believe this. Alternatively, try this sentence: "Communications and travel may have largely obviated the advantages of a married couple living together in one place to raise a family."

unserioustubes 2y ago
[dead]
neaanopri 2y ago
Mathematicians aren't having sex or changing diapers, math can all be in LaTeX
- noch 2y ago
  > Mathematicians aren't having sex or changing diapers, math can all be in LaTeX Sex and LaTex! I dig it!
- raverbashing 2y ago
  Now this is the part I take issue with Most likely their discussion were over zoom while scribbling over a blackboard.
  - funcDropShadow 2y ago
    I remember having an instant messanger 20years ago which would render LaTeX equations on the fly. The only one that can do it today is Emacs.
- Al-Khwarizmi 2y ago
  The analogy is a bit hyperbolic but not off base at all. In my field, there is a lot of discussion over whether conferences should go virtual to ensure "equity", "inclusion", and all that; and to save pollution and CO2 from plane travel. According to the defenders of that take, current technology makes meeting in person totally unnecessary and online conferences can replace physical ones just fine. But curiously enough, everyone who I've seen defend that position are at elite universities in places like California where they have a high concentration of top figures in the field within a short drive. Almost no one from more remote areas (like myself) defends that... largely because many of us have stories where those polluting plane tickets helped us connect with relevant people in the field, learn and boost our career. But back to the marriage analogy... when those people from top universities make that comment, I usually tell them that if they are so interested in equity, diversity, not polluting and all that jazz, and since according to them online interaction is enough and getting together physically is just a luxury, they should then take remote PhD students (which would even let them select from a larger pool!). It's an obvious conclusion of their position, right? The answer is always crickets.
  - bonoboTP 2y ago
    There's truth in both. For countries with little research funding (Eastern Europe in my case), travelling to top conferences is often prohibitively expensive. Top AI conferences are regularly in places like Hawaii. This excludes many regions and those researchers must submit to lower tier conferences, or - as already commonly happens - they have to move to a richer country and do research there. Remote conferences and lower publishing fees definitely help people at these underfunded places. But it is true that being there in person is still much more valuable. Informal face to face interaction at posters, joint dinners between different research groups, mingling during coffee breaks etc. are not replaceable by a Zoom Q&A.
- bongoman42 2y ago
  \LaTeX prevents conception of new ideas. You really need to rawdog it on a black or whiteboard to see that.
sashank_1509 2y ago
I have to agree, high performance teams need to be together in proximity to do world changing stuff (or maybe in AR worlds that are as natural as real worlds in the future). Remote work is for big standard work that doesn’t require too much innovation or if 1 person is capable of carrying the team. Yet to see counter examples to this

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

rcarr 2y ago

If I remember right Deep Work by Cal Newport talks about Bell Labs and how that came to be such an epicentre of invention back in the day. The author reckons that the architecture of the building had a lot to do with it. It allowed the employees to do uninterrupted, concentrated work when needed but then when exiting their offices the design of the building facilitated lots of chance encounters with other people in other departments which meant a lot of exchanging of ideas and knowledge. You don't get this kind of "hive mind" effect with remote work.