[FOM] 827: Tangible Incompleteness Restarted/1

[José Manuel Rodríguez Caballero]

Harvey Friedman wrote:
> But I have found a somewhat surprising reaction against graphs and
> cliques among many mathematicians. Notable is the statement made to me
> by a Fields Medalist when asked if they knew what a graph is. ANSWER: No
> I don't, and I never want to know what a graph is. So the interesting
> question here is just what did this Fields Medalist know about graphs to
> make them never want to know what a graph is? Let me repeat for
> emphasis:
>
> WHAT DID THIS FIELDS MEDALIST KNOW ABOUT GRAPHS TO MAKE THEM NEVER WANT
> TO KNOW WHAT A GRAPH IS?
>

A possible explanation is that in some universities, Graph Theory, and more
generally Discrete Mathematics, is part of the curriculum of
Computer Science rather than Mathematics. For a multidisciplinary mind,
this is no problem, but for someone who wants to be an expert on what
people around him call Mathematics, this may prevent this person from
getting involved in graph theory. So, I recommend the following video about
experts by Dr. Richard W. Hamming (1915-1998), where this sort of phenomena
is discussed:

<goog_1289188523>
https://youtu.be/KWNBzAgAiMc

Kind regards,
Jose M.
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