The Joy of Why

I didn’t know what to make of it when I heard that Steven Strogatx had moved on from X to Why. And then I heard some of the episodes and it was what I had suspected. But I should not have been surprised. He is an applied mathematician, a fast disappearing species in universities. Even mathematical physicists now do not want to be known as applied mathematicians, which ought to tell you everything. That is because the word “applied” means you are applying tools handed to you (mathematical methods) at whatever you can find. When you have a hammer everything around you looks like a nail. Not a good handle!

I’ve only admittedly listened to only one episode, but it was about the development of robots. The scientist went on and on about how great it will be when humans don’t have to do repetitive tasks and she gave an example of watching a man move a box from one place to the other. I have to laugh when people who live in cloud castles think that robots are going to make everyone happy. That guy only has the brain capacity to move boxes from one side to the other. You look in any industry, any place, people who are doing manual tasks are the ones who can only do manual tasks! Yes, they could clean the robot factories, they could do fine tasks that robots can’t do…yet. But seriously, there are a lot of people in this world who really can’t do anything but menial tasks. To think anything else is to live in the clouds. And clearly not living down here in humanity. Instead of this tripe, she could’ve been talking about all the other manual tasks that could open up, like cleaning, like supporting the robot industry. That’s where these people are going to go.

I love the variety of the guests, and Janna and Steven are great interviewers. In a podcasting world filled with fluffy 90 minute episodes, these folks keep it tight and interesting. I never find myself skipping or even speeding up the playback rate. Highly recommend!

This podcast has its moments, but it can hard to listen to, especially regarding the dynamics of the hosts. Steve Strogatz will often interrupt the "why" questions of their guests of physics by unironically stating, "I don't think we're supposed to ask that question as scientists," or bemoan, "Where's the science in this?" anytime a "why question is brought up." Jana Levin will often try to talk him off the scientism ledge by gently suggesting that he may be missing the bigger picture. Furthermore, he often condescends his co-host's loftier questions. It is clear that while Jana Levin is a theoretical physicist and philosopher of physics, her co-host has boxed himself into the identity of a mathematician who refuses to keep an open mind, even on a podcast ironically titled "The Joy of Why." For these reasons, I prefer Lex Fridman's podcast, where "why" questions and deep conversations are not only allowed but encouraged.

Love the episodes - the ending of this episode reminded me of the Gödel IncompletenessTheorem - something like “in any sufficiently complex formal system, there will always be true statements that cannot be proven within that system itself” Here, we’re hoping the observer writhing the system behave like an external observer which brings the correct conclusion. Which is, the observer from within is unable to even formulate any correct question based on the limitations of such observer. Excellent episode💓