From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Msuck: nntp://news.gmane.io/gmane.science.mathematics.categories/6771 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Jeremy Gibbons Newsgroups: gmane.science.mathematics.categories Subject: Re: Timelines for category theory: a response to comments Date: Tue, 12 Jul 2011 15:10:24 +0100 Message-ID: References: Reply-To: Jeremy Gibbons NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 (Apple Message framework v1084) Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Trace: dough.gmane.org 1310495704 21417 80.91.229.12 (12 Jul 2011 18:35:04 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@dough.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 12 Jul 2011 18:35:04 +0000 (UTC) To: "categories@mta.ca list" Original-X-From: majordomo@mlist.mta.ca Tue Jul 12 20:35:00 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 1QghnP-0005CN-Mn for gsmc-categories@m.gmane.org; Tue, 12 Jul 2011 20:35:00 +0200 Original-Received: from mlist.mta.ca ([138.73.1.63]:45015) by smtpy.mta.ca with esmtp (Exim 4.76) (envelope-from ) id 1Qghk5-00067w-T7; Tue, 12 Jul 2011 15:31:33 -0300 Original-Received: from majordomo by mlist.mta.ca with local (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1Qghk5-0001UL-6Z for categories-list@mlist.mta.ca; Tue, 12 Jul 2011 15:31:33 -0300 In-Reply-To: Precedence: bulk Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.science.mathematics.categories:6771 Archived-At: If I may stick my head over the parapet, I'd like to suggest that you're = surely fighting a losing battle here. Wikipedia does not work by having = articles written by "chosen groups of experts". Indeed, quite the = opposite; some amateur with community spirit and a personal itch to = scratch makes a start, others - perhaps more expert - chip in, and = gradually the wonder that is Wikipedia blossoms. Or not, as the case may = be: perhaps two amateurs with conflicting axes to grind hack away at = each other's changes, and nothing productive comes of it; that's the = price you pay for crowd-sourcing. I believe that your only option is to do some of that chipping in = yourself. You can obviously see many flaws in the original article that = "Fotino" has kindly started; why not set about improving it? Who knows - = others may follow your noble example!=20 But I recommend not to start by replacing the existing article with a = blank slate; that's simply rude. If in doubt, start with the associated = discussion page, which doesn't seem to have changed since Oct 2009. See = the discussion under "Stub requests"; maybe talk personally with Charles = Matthews. Jeremy On 10 Jul 2011, at 18:03, Ronnie Brown wrote: > Dear Colleagues, >=20 > Many thanks for your comments, which show how our community sees the > problem. The discussion is obviously not finished yet. >=20 > 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? >=20 > 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. >=20 > 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: >=20 > 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 >=20 > There will be intersections of course, but we presume that is fine. >=20 > As examples of timelines in other subjects, and their styles, see for > example >=20 > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_timelines#Science >=20 > particularly those on Physics. >=20 > We look forward to reactions to this proposal. >=20 > Ronnie Brown >=20 > George Janelidze >=20 [For admin and other information see: http://www.mta.ca/~cat-dist/ ]