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Mo @MuhammadPuter12
, 4 tweets, 2 min read Read on Twitter
"Young man," John von Neumann once said to Felix Smith, "in math you don't understand things. You merely get used to them."

This quote annoyed the hell out of me when I was younger. Wasn't math the one domain where you wouldn't have to do that in principle?
Over time I warmed up to JvN's quote. Two influences in particular. First Ravi Vakil's advice to new grad students, exhorting them to attend talks:
Second is this quote by @Meaningness from his wonderful essay meaningness.com/understanding :
It's not directly about math, but seems analogous
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Time for a speculative hypothesis......I wrestle with my background as a Buffett-worshipping value investor on the one hand, and the seductions of the "neo-value investing" movement on the other. By "neo-value investing" I mean the attempt to invest in modern tech companies...
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I hesitate to argue w/ ⁦@jimgeraghty⁩ whose moniker “Geraghty the Indispensable” has been earned over years of guest spots and the occasional hosting of my radio show. (1) nationalreview.com/the-morning-jo…
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As world focused on ISIS in Raqqa& Mosul, another city was destroyed: Benghazi.

After ISIS &AlQaeda took city in 2014, Libyan army fought extremists &defeated them end 2017.

Price of victory high.

Our drone footage shows what's left of center Benghazi

2/ I have to tell you that when I recently arrived in Benghazi, I was really shocked by the destruction of the city.

Much worse than I thought it was.

As you can see in our drone video, center is fully destroyed during fighting between extremists & army.

Very painful to see.
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I went to lunch today with a buddy who is a Marine who served in Vietnam. I am doing background research for my book. Although my character is Army, there’s a lot the two had in common. So, we talked about what it was like to be on patrol in the jungles of Vietnam.
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Sometimes, because of weather, the resupply choppers couldn’t come out, so they ran low on food and water and had to figure out ways to survive. They refilled their canteens from the streams and didn’t even bother to boil the water.
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This thread very much echoes my feelings: Wylie built a weapon, understanding what uses its buyers had in mind, and it did exactly what was intended. And he hasn't come to a full moral reckoning with that. 1/
I didn't come up in computer science; I used to be a physicist. That transition gives me a rather specific perspective on this situation: that computer science is a field which hasn't yet encountered consequences.
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It’s my first time here. Please comment away and/or point out my cultural insensitivities!
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