Most of us leave school with the impression that mathematics is a ladder of increasingly difficult calculations: arithmetic at the bottom, algebra in the middle, and pages of incomprehensible symbols at the top.

But professional mathematicians rarely spend their days multiplying enormous numbers or solving absurdly long equations. Computers can handle calculations faster than any person. At the highest levels, mathematics is about discovering patterns, exploring abstract worlds, and proving that something must always be true.

[Read more…] about What Is Advanced Mathematics Actually About?

Every year, around late August, a very specific type of person starts talking about “the playa” like it’s a place they summered as a child instead of a temporary pop-up city in the Nevada desert that costs more than a used Honda Civic to attend.

You know this person. He works in tech, or wants you to think he does. His LinkedIn headline has the word “builder” in it somewhere, unprompted, like he’s a golden retriever that learned to code. He has a bike with fur on it in storage somewhere in Oakland, insured separately from his actual car.

[Read more…] about Why the Heck Would Anyone Actually Want to Go to Burning Man?