> No experiment could ever possibly hurt scientific knowledge
what about one with a falsified result?
fwiw I think convexity and understanding are relatively orthogonal, but how could one employ the former without the latter? However the author's position seems to be more that gaming systems works better than exploring their contexts. Sometimes you might make more money in less time, but the money is all you'll get out of it. In practice, maybe understanding and convex payoff functions are both useful at different scales.
Productivity is a poor metric for actually improving your quality of life, solving hard problems, or doing much of anything other than running in circles at speed.
Brouwer's career suffered as a consequence of his disagreements with Hilbert.
EDIT (with links to the political aspect):
Letters written more about the politics of publishing than the math itself are referenced in a book called "The War of the Frogs and the Mice"
(PDF) http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.224... (see bottom of pg 9 as displayed for the letter Brouwer wrote to Hilbert's wife)
I've come to think of machine learning as an engineering approach for building more scalable statistical systems. Computational neuroscience seems like it does more math modeling for understanding of brain function, but still might use machine learning methods as part of its research.
Also, good is subjective, and we don't have wetware in our engineering toolchain anyway. Loosely coupled metaphors seem to be popular and effective due to ambiguities like this.
Meaning is a process of its own creation, not a measuring stick. Often when people speak of meaning as though it were quantitative, they usually are referring to how much they help other people. Meaning is also interactive, it rarely happens in total isolation. If everyone around is constantly conflating meaning with monetary success, it's easy to feel confused and despair. Don't blame money, but rather look for bits of beauty in life and share them with people you care for. At least that's what seems to work for me
working from home entails a personal responsibility for effectively scheduling your time. having a separate space from "normal" household activities can really help staying focused and avoiding overwork / burnout.
over time, the worst part of working from home is lack of eye contact. engaging with others outside of home can help, but there's still an awkward quality to getting to know people without seeing their reactions
I went on a local trail run in LA this week and was surprised by how many thick patches of wildflower there were. Swarmed with bees, snakes crossing the trail under my foot. Best spring in some time
https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/engine-not-camera