From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Msuck: nntp://news.gmane.io/gmane.science.mathematics.categories/6767 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Sergei SOLOVIEV Newsgroups: gmane.science.mathematics.categories Subject: Re: Timelines for category theory: a response to comments Date: Mon, 11 Jul 2011 20:14:10 +0200 Message-ID: References: Reply-To: Sergei SOLOVIEV NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: dough.gmane.org 1310479165 10205 80.91.229.12 (12 Jul 2011 13:59:25 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@dough.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 12 Jul 2011 13:59:25 +0000 (UTC) Cc: "categories@mta.ca" , George Janelidze To: Ronnie Brown Original-X-From: majordomo@mlist.mta.ca Tue Jul 12 15:59:21 2011 Return-path: Envelope-to: gsmc-categories@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from smtpy.mta.ca ([138.73.1.128]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1QgdUW-0001ZX-VZ for gsmc-categories@m.gmane.org; Tue, 12 Jul 2011 15:59:13 +0200 Original-Received: from mlist.mta.ca ([138.73.1.63]:57967) by smtpy.mta.ca with esmtp (Exim 4.76) (envelope-from ) id 1QgdS9-0001Fu-7H; Tue, 12 Jul 2011 10:56:45 -0300 Original-Received: from majordomo by mlist.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1QgdS8-0006BD-E4 for categories-list@mlist.mta.ca; Tue, 12 Jul 2011 10:56:44 -0300 In-Reply-To: Precedence: bulk Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.science.mathematics.categories:6767 Archived-At: I think that the list of topics is very good, and the idea seems to me very reasonnable. And with all my respect to Eduardo ("No censorship to wikipedia !") I don't think that everything should be reduced to mere opinions and freedom of speech - there is also the notion of truth. Supposedly, the above mentioned freedom should help to find it, at least, in science. Best regards Sergei Soloviev Ronnie Brown wrote: > Dear Colleagues, > > Many thanks for your comments, which show how our community sees the > problem. The discussion is obviously not finished yet. > > Let us actually try to say what is the MAIN problem with this article. > The main problem is the picture of category theory it draws! Many of you > give courses in category theory at various levels - beautiful courses > showing that category theory provides a new most advanced level of > thinking in mathematics ("thinking categorically!"), and has made major > contributions to the unity of mathematics. So, why don't you compare the > plan of your own course with this article? Surely you do not begin your > course with resolutions of modules and you do not end it with "extended > TQFT", do you? > > On the other hand there is clearly a desire to have a good content and > context for category theory on wikipedia, which is often the first port > of call for students, and those potentially interested, and so there are > calls for an improved Timeline for category theory. To take in the whole > subject in one timeline, with references, would seem an enormous and > controversial task. > > We therefore propose that the present article be replaced by a list of > topics with links to articles on timelines of those topics. And then > each "timeline" should be written by a chosen group of experts. Our > first draft of topics would be: > > 1. General category theory, including motivation > 2. Abelian categories and homological algebra > 3. Categories and groupoids in homotopical algebra and algebraic topology > 4. Topos theory > 5. Monoidal, enriched, and higher-dimensional categories > 6. Categorical algebra > 7. Categorical topology > 8. Categorical logic and foundation of mathematics > 10. Categories in algebraic geometry > 11. Categories in computer science > 12. Categories in Physics > > There will be intersections of course, but we presume that is fine. > > As examples of timelines in other subjects, and their styles, see for > example > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_timelines#Science > > particularly those on Physics. > > We look forward to reactions to this proposal. > > Ronnie Brown > > George Janelidze [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]