Re: A well kept secret?

[Tom Leinster <tl@maths.gla.ac.uk>]

Those depressed about the social status of category theory might be
cheered up by a look at Math Overflow, http://mathoverflow.net .

This is a website where you can ask and answer questions about any part of
mathematics.  You might expect that for a site with this problem-solving
format, category theory wouldn't be much in evidence.  But according to
the site's own statistics, it's the 3rd most popular topic for questions.

The site's been up only a few months but has been enormously successful,
with some extremely clever and knowledgeable people contributing
regularly.  It really doesn't seem like a pro-category niche group.  But
I've seen little or no anti-category sniping there.  The kind of cynicism
that most of us have experienced just isn't in evidence.

A particular reason to find this cheering is that the demographic of the
contributors is skewed towards the young, the American, and the algebraic
geometers.  (Young American algebraic geometers are a definite minority,
though - there's quite a wide spread.)  Why might that be particularly
cheering?  "Young" because it suggests a bright future, "American"
because, as I gather, the NSF has historically been loath to support
category theory, and "algebraic geometers" because it suggests that the
anti-category theory backlash in that influential subject may be nearing
an end.

Best wishes,
Tom


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