OK here's a subproblem: Fix the logic as the calculus of inductive constructions. Is the problem of determining whether a function is extensionally equal to the identity function at a given (but arbitrary) type undecidable?
So fix arbitrary X, and an arbitrary function:
f : X -> X
You want to write a program that determines whether:
forall (x : X), f x = x
Is that undecidable?
Note that in this logic, f must always terminate! But there may be infinitely many possible x : X
I know grad school is always hard, but I really had three consecutive hard years: first a cruel situation at the intersection of work and my personal life that pushed me out of the state twice and almost caused me to drop out, and made me so depressed I had trouble surviving
Then just as my depression was getting better, a literal pandemic that led to my whole social support system and all of my coping mechanisms collapsing overnight, so a major relapse I also had trouble surviving at first, really
During the pandemic job search: an insurrection attempt, people I love testing positive for COVID, a serial harasser trying to use my mental illness to discredit my jobworthiness
Hi friends, I'm really excited to announce that I will start as an Assistant Professor at @IllinoisCS in October! I will be joining the already wonderful and huge @plfmse group 😊. Please apply to work with me if you're interested in building a world of proof engineering for all!
I want to acknowledge quickly that I was extremely lucky to have a difficult decision to make. I've really, really loved meeting with so many wonderful people and talking to all of you throughout the job search season, and I really do hope to stay in touch!
But I am also extremely excited about this opportunity! I'm also really excited to build connections to other midwest schools. @certifiablyrand and I have been talking about social and research connections between UIUC and UChicago!
FWIW if you want to write a "please fund this research area" paper, I recommend writing a large survey paper for Foundations & Trends with a heavy future work focus, rather than just a vision paper. You get to define the field
Vision paper gets you attention and is fun but you're expected to deliver very soon after, which might be hard if you haven't convinced other people to work with you yet. Survey paper makes you into an (actual) expert quickly, establishes connections, defines the field
It is strange to me that people often assume the smallest possible things we can observe must be the smallest possible things that exist, when for example we know well there are parts of the universe too far away for us to observe
I think more people need a healthy dose of modern logic to realize how hopeless it is to be able to ever describe and understand everything through any framework, and how that's actually totally fine
How boring would the universe be if we could fully understand it from within it?