From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Msuck: nntp://news.gmane.io/gmane.science.mathematics.categories/6257 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: =?iso-8859-1?Q?Joyal=2C_Andr=E9?= Newsgroups: gmane.science.mathematics.categories Subject: no joke Date: Wed, 29 Sep 2010 14:05:25 -0400 Message-ID: References: Reply-To: =?iso-8859-1?Q?Joyal=2C_Andr=E9?= NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Trace: dough.gmane.org 1285802659 9720 80.91.229.12 (29 Sep 2010 23:24:19 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@dough.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 29 Sep 2010 23:24:19 +0000 (UTC) To: "John Baez" , "categories" Original-X-From: majordomo@mlist.mta.ca Thu Sep 30 01:24:17 2010 Return-path: Envelope-to: gsmc-categories@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from smtpx.mta.ca ([138.73.1.138]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1P160X-00062m-93 for gsmc-categories@m.gmane.org; Thu, 30 Sep 2010 01:24:17 +0200 Original-Received: from mlist.mta.ca ([138.73.1.63]:43522) by smtpx.mta.ca with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1P15zk-0001IO-0N; Wed, 29 Sep 2010 20:23:28 -0300 Original-Received: from majordomo by mlist.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1P15zh-0001jH-2M for categories-list@mlist.mta.ca; Wed, 29 Sep 2010 20:23:25 -0300 Precedence: bulk Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.science.mathematics.categories:6257 Archived-At: Dear John, >But I never really thought of it as a piece of "terminology" >that I "introduced". I've never used in any published paper, >for example. I've always thought of it as a JOKE. >In the future I'll try to avoid telling this joke in the presence of >people who find it upsetting.=20 I am not offended personally. You are free to repeat the "joke" ad nauseum, but who is laughing? Some of your followers are taking the "joke" quite seriously: http://ncatlab.org/nlab/show/evil You wrote: >I'm not working on pure math anymore, except for a few >projects that I'm trying to finish up.=20 You are a good mathematician.=20 You have made important contributions to higher category theory. I am sure you can make further contributions. I hope you will not leave math.=20 Everybody likes your web pages on maths and physics. You wrote: >I'm working environmental issues. I applaude to your involvement: http://www.azimuthproject.org/azimuth/show/Azimuth+Project I agree that the planet is presently heading for an ecological disaster. You wrote that the situation about climate change is hopeless. I can understand your pessimism, but how do you really know? You also wrote that not all human beings will die. Is this a source of optimism? Who should be saved? Who can be abandoned? You also wrote that we should consider using geo-engineering. How different is your position from Bjorn Lomborg's? http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=3D9780521138567 http://climateprogress.org/2010/09/01/the-lomborg-deception/ http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2009/08/a-biased-economic-a= nalysis-of-geoengineering/ Best, Andr=E9 [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]