Terence Tao presents a Caltech talk titled "Math 2.0"

A link surfaced on Hacker News pointing to a presentation prepared by the mathematician Terence Tao. The document is published as a PDF and consists of slides for a talk called "Math 2.0", delivered at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech).

The publication itself is just the slides, with no accompanying text or recording of the talk, so its full substance is hard to reconstruct from the file alone. Still, the title "Math 2.0" sets the theme: it concerns a view of what the modern practice of mathematics is becoming, and what it might become.

The discussion on Hacker News was substantial: the item gathered 142 points and 172 comments. For a venue that prizes primary sources and rigorous argument, such interest in the slides of one of the most prominent living mathematicians is hardly surprising.

Terence Tao is a professor and Fields Medalist, a figure whose remarks the community follows with particular attention. That is why even a short deck of slides sketching his thoughts on the future of the discipline becomes an occasion for extended debate.

Readers drawn to the topic are best served by turning to the presentation itself via the link: it is the primary and most reliable source.

Source: Hacker News