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My Tribe

I've lately taken to referring to math conferences as an opportunity for me to spend time with my tribe. I'm not educated in anthropology and may not be using the term accurately but for common usage it feels about right. 

I'm a bit leery of the word mathematicians as meaning different things to different people in the profession; I do like being around math folk though. We are all over the place politically (the Unabomber was one of us) but we do share an outlook that is comfortable when shared.

Whether we test them as often as we should we're pretty good as a group at articulating assumptions, which makes our conversations more interesting as a rule.

We tend to approach many situations as problems (how can this be improved using the accepted metrics) and often think outside the box.

We tend not to rely on authority (e.g. my claim is backed up by my reputation and the reputations of its adherents) much which is quite refreshing, especially at the start of my career.

We share a bit of a siege mentality in our love of a field that scares many. It is comfortable not having to defend our enthusiasm.


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