The Importance of Concentration in Deep Thinking

4min Snip

00:00

Play full episode

Summary

Transcript

Episode notes

Cal Newport wrote a book called deep work he's a theoretical computer scientist. He took quite seriously the task of allocating the hours in the day for that kind of deep thinking and then the mathematicians is is theoretical computer scientists on steroids. For your own life and what you've observed let me ask the big question how to think how to think deeplyHow do you find the mental psychological pragmatic space to really sit there and think deeply?

Edward Frenkel is a mathematician at UC Berkeley working on the interface of mathematics and quantum physics. He is the author of Love and Math: The Heart of Hidden Reality. Please support this podcast by checking out our sponsors:
– House of Macadamias: https://houseofmacadamias.com/lex and use code LEX to get 20% off your first order
– Shopify: https://shopify.com/lex to get free trial
– ExpressVPN: https://expressvpn.com/lexpod to get 3 months free

EPISODE LINKS:
Edward’s Website: https://edwardfrenkel.com
Edward’s Book – Love and Math: https://amzn.to/40Bgxh0
Edward’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/edfrenkel
Edward’s YouTube: https://youtube.com/edfrenkel
Edward’s Instagram: https://instagram.com/edfrenkel

PODCAST INFO:
Podcast website: https://lexfridman.com/podcast
Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/2lwqZIr
Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2nEwCF8
RSS: https://lexfridman.com/feed/podcast/
YouTube Full Episodes: https://youtube.com/lexfridman
YouTube Clips: https://youtube.com/lexclips

SUPPORT & CONNECT:
– Check out the sponsors above, it’s the best way to support this podcast
– Support on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lexfridman
– Twitter: https://twitter.com/lexfridman
– Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lexfridman
– LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lexfridman
– Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lexfridman
– Medium: https://medium.com/@lexfridman

OUTLINE:
Here’s the timestamps for the episode. On some podcast players you should be able to click the timestamp to jump to that time.
(00:00) – Introduction
(05:54) – Mathematics in the Soviet Union
(16:05) – Nature of reality
(27:23) – Scientific discoveries
(40:45) – Observing reality
(56:57) – Complex numbers
(1:05:42) – Imagination
(1:13:33) – Pythagoreanism
(1:21:28) – AI and love
(1:34:07) – Gödel’s Incompleteness Theorems
(1:54:32) – Beauty in mathematics
(1:59:02) – Eric Weinstein
(2:20:57) – Langlands Program
(2:27:36) – Edward Witten
(2:30:41) – String theory
(2:36:10) – Theory of everything
(2:45:03) – Mathematics in academia
(2:50:30) – How to think
(2:56:16) – Fermat’s Last Theorem
(3:11:07) – Eric Weinstein and Harvard
(3:18:32) – Antisemitism
(3:38:45) – Mortality
(3:46:42) – Love