Re: cracks and pots

[Alex Simpson <Alex.Simpson@ed.ac.uk>]

Quoting dusko <dusko@kestrel.edu>:

> but at the end of the day, i think, we'll all agree that the source
> of the unreasonable effectiveness of categorical algebra is its
> foundational content (although there is probably a lot of it that we
> dont understand yet); and the other way around. eg, if you look at
> grothendieck's work, he started working in algebra, and ended up
> developing foundational structures, because he needed them. and a lot
>  on the "algebra" side now is built upon them. ok, then for a while
> it  was thought that he exaggerated with foundations, and that a more
>  direct approach "could have been in better taste" (to cite
> eilenberg). but maby the fermat theorem would have a more useful
> proof if it was developed in grothendieck style. and nowadays, there
> is a lot of foundational content in tannaka duality etc, in TQFT in
> general ...

TQFT!? It seems dusko has finally discovered the shift key
on his keyboard.

Alex

-- 
Alex Simpson, LFCS, School of Informatics, Univ. of Edinburgh, UK
Email: Alex.Simpson@ed.ac.uk             Tel: +44 (0)131 650 5113
Web: http://homepages.inf.ed.ac.uk/als   Fax: +44 (0)131 667 7209