From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Msuck: nntp://news.gmane.io/gmane.science.mathematics.categories/3128 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Vaughan Pratt Newsgroups: gmane.science.mathematics.categories Subject: Re: cracks and pots Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2006 17:52:03 -0800 Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: main.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1241019110 7358 80.91.229.2 (29 Apr 2009 15:31:50 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 29 Apr 2009 15:31:50 +0000 (UTC) To: categories@mta.ca Original-X-From: rrosebru@mta.ca Fri Mar 17 23:15:16 2006 -0400 Return-path: Envelope-to: categories-list@mta.ca Delivery-date: Fri, 17 Mar 2006 23:15:16 -0400 Original-Received: from Majordom by mailserv.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.52) id 1FKRf8-00036i-Ep for categories-list@mta.ca; Fri, 17 Mar 2006 22:59:30 -0400 Original-Sender: cat-dist@mta.ca Precedence: bulk X-Keywords: X-UID: 74 Original-Lines: 17 Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.science.mathematics.categories:3128 Archived-At: Category theory, and for that matter modern (as opposed to elementary) algebra, is to mathematics as mathematics is to physics, and for that matter to computer science. Whereas mathematics organizes reasoning about the phenomena studied by physicists and computer scientists, algebra and category theory perform a similar function for mathematics. In any setting organization is desirable, and arguably necessary on occasion. But the use of algebra and category theory to organize physics and computer science is a double whammy here. One should therefore be doubly sympathetic of those physicists and computer scientists who want to know what substantive contribution is being made to their subject and can't evaluate the answers because they are one if not two levels removed from the necessary abstractions. Vaughan Pratt