Nuances
This is an interesting article. Compares and contrasts the thinking process in a fundamentalist mindset and the mindset of a chess player.
I couldn’t resist adding this as well. The mind of a chess player may be just as similiar to the way a mathematician works.
Mathematics is about nuances. Although many people have this perception that mathematics is boring, just about numbers and logic, dry and overtly tedious.
But in fact, those are exaggerations. I’ll never get tired of saying this: Mathematics is beautiful. Its like chess. The rules of logic are the rules of chess: They tell you how to move. Strategy in chess is like the overarching theory. Tactics are comparable to the techniques of argument that we use to prove stuff. Getting from hypothesis to conclusion is like painting. First you sketch, then you ink, then paint and frame and enjoy.
Yes mathematics is complex, as with chess, as it is with life. Sometimes, I can’t solve problems because they are too hard for me, sometimes I get them wrong. But the practise and experience in thinking gives me that extra edge in noticing little things that a normal person would have otherwise passed over. This is nuance, this is a way of looking at life and being able to be precise and yet flexible.
I wish that there were more Malaysians who is willing to look beyond pragmatism and take up this beautiful subject as a life study.
