Reposted by Ryan Gutenkunst
Just back from Japan. What a trip. One of the highlights was meeting Tomoko Ohta. She is one of the most important figures in the history of the life sciences, but few outside of the field of molecular evolution know of her or her work.
![philipswood 12 hours ago | prev | next [–]
Honest question: how is this different from some unknown mathematician having a breakthrough?
I mean: if some reclusive Japanese genius had a breakthrough on your problem and published it, would you have felt the same?
And if not, why not?
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jboggan 12 hours ago | parent | next [–]
If that had happened I would be overjoyed, maybe a hair chagrined that I didn't get it myself, but truly happy that someone got it and that I could go and talk to that person. Because it's the kind of problem I don't think would have fallen to a human after a few hours of thought, and I would have so much to talk about with that person. I would fly to Japan and hope to have tea with them, I would learn some Japanese to make the conversations easier. I would learn some interesting things hearing about their struggles and their false starts. I would make friends with that reclusive Japanese genius and my life would be far richer for it.
I will never meet that person and I will never hold a real conversation with the "creator" of that proof. They will never tell me how they came up with the cancelling exponential summation that cracked the constructio](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:jdum3zo5iqmx4gcnt5vuy7s4/bafkreih7e22vinqkztbymohgv4ldy4qojed452h2xfddb25vvpi2i2tlqi)
