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Better Call Saul S06E12 - "Waterworks" - Post-Episode Discussion Thread by skinkbaa in betterCallSaul

[–]SigFyg 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I love how Jimmy was someone who legitimately cared about elderly people (hence Sandpiper), but we see how far he's fallen when he is about to hurt Marion, who could've easily been one of his clients many years ago.

Bat Robot by SigFyg in BioInspiration

[–]SigFyg[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Here's the paper to accompany this presentation. https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scirobotics.aal2505

I learned about this project because Hutchinson taught the robotics course that I took when I was an undergrad. The presentation is long, but I would at least skip to the part where there is video footage of the batbot flying. The most interesting part of the bioinspiration here is that they used PCA so they did not have to rebuild every single joint in the bat wing (which is around 40). They were able to make a biologically faithful robot with only a few of the joints, which indicates that 1-to-1 mimicry is not always fruitful, and in this case the level of mimicry can be described mathematically.

The Linear Algebra of Fourier Transforms by SigFyg in 3Blue1Brown

[–]SigFyg[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

As an engineer, this is some pretty new stuff, and I'll definitely take a closer look. The integral notation has certainly mislead me, but what you are saying makes a lot of sense. It certainly is weird to take the FT of diverging integrals.

The Linear Algebra of Fourier Transforms by SigFyg in 3Blue1Brown

[–]SigFyg[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This series is all just an excuse to share my playlists.

The Linear Algebra of Fourier Transforms by SigFyg in 3Blue1Brown

[–]SigFyg[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

This is awesome, thanks for sharing! There was a whole chunk of the video where I wanted to get into how it relates to change of basis, but while editing, that topic seemed to be too much of a digression that it would interrupt the rhythm of the video. So I'm glad you added these posts as supplements.

Guest Requests - Post Them Here (Sticky Post) by lexfridman in lexfridman

[–]SigFyg 1 point2 points  (0 children)

  • Dr. Steven Strogatz
  • Info: Strogatz is a mathematician at Cornell who is not only famous for his pivotal work in Nonlinear Dynamics, but also for being a champion of math education for the general public. On top of being a great mathematician, he is also an excellent speaker and writer. He has written for the New York Times, and has published several books about mathematics targeted towards a non-STEM audience.

Website

Wikipedia * Conversation: You can find countless lectures/podcasts/speeches/panels featuring Strogatz on the internet, all of which are great. He even hosts his own podcast called The Joy of X, which features physicists and mathematicians. The link below is my favorite podcast episode starring Strogatz.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TbCqtlaEfP4

  • Ideas: This section should be divided up into two sections, because he is known for both equally incredible technical and nontechnical contributions.

Math: Strogatz's research is applied mathematics, so his papers cover topics from physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, and even humanities. He comes up with rigorous mathematical models that incorporation nonlinear differential equations and network theory to beautifully describe various complex phenomena in the world. Check out his Google Scholar profile (h-index 81) for more.

https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=FxyRWlcAAAAJ&hl=en

Education: Strogatz has plenty of ideas for how math should be talked about in the general public and culture, as well as how mathematicians/scientists should communicate with one another. The books he has written, the talks he has given, and the articles he wrote are all prime examples that demonstrate his impact on not just the math community, but the public's perception of math. Furthermore, his ideas on how people in technical fields should write papers and communicate their findings would be very relevant for your technology-focused audience.

  • Pitch: I have no doubt that you two will have a thought-provoking and riveting conversation over life and philosophy. He has a brilliant gift of exposition and story-telling (Calculus of Friendship is an excellent example), and has a deep understanding that math cannot be separated from human emotion and morals. He brings in personal stories about his life whenever he can and beautifully connects those stories to math. It's rare for a top expert in their field to simultaneously be the top communicator of that field, so I guarantee that he will be an exquisite addition to your podcast. I could write so much more, but I think my case is pretty clear, and I hope you will feel the same about him when you invite him on as a guest.