Key Moments
Luís and João Batalha: Fermat's Library and the Art of Studying Papers | Lex Fridman Podcast #209
Lex FridmanKey Moments
Fermat's Library founders discuss open science, paper annotation, and the human side of scientific breakthroughs.
Key Insights
The human backstory behind scientific papers is crucial for understanding the ideas and making them more memorable.
The traditional academic publishing model, characterized by paywalls and impact factor metrics, is deeply flawed and hinders scientific progress.
Fermat's Library aims to revolutionize science through open annotation, making academic papers more accessible and understandable.
Crowdsourced review and collaborative platforms, inspired by Wikipedia and Stack Overflow, could create a more resilient and effective scientific ecosystem.
Deep fascination with mathematics and physics is inherent to human curiosity, and effective teaching can unlock this passion for everyone.
Building a successful startup or pursuing scientific breakthroughs requires enduring periods of being 'stuck' and embracing a non-linear reward function.
THE HUMAN ELEMENT IN SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY
The co-founders of Fermat's Library, Luís and João Batalha, emphasize the importance of the human backstory in scientific papers. They argue that understanding how authors arrived at their discoveries, rather than viewing them as isolated 'eureka moments,' provides vital context. Famous examples like Richard Feynman's QED paper, inspired by observing a wobbling plate, or Ian Goodfellow's GANs concept, conceived in a bar, illustrate how seemingly random interactions and personal struggles often precede groundbreaking work. This human context not only makes complex ideas more relatable but also helps to cement knowledge in the reader's mind, fostering deeper understanding and appreciation for the scientific process.
CHALLENGES IN ACADEMIC PUBLISHING AND PEER REVIEW
The podcast critically examines the current state of academic publishing, highlighting its numerous flaws. A significant concern is the prevalence of paywalls, which restrict access to over 70% of published research, even though much of it is government-funded and peer-reviewed by unpaid researchers. This system, where journals profit from free labor and then sell access back to publicly funded institutions, is described as bizarre and detrimental to the free dissemination of ideas. The 'impact factor' metric for journals is seen as particularly problematic, as it compels researchers to prioritize publication in high-impact journals over creating long-term valuable work, leading to gamification and potential scientific misconduct.
FERMAT'S LIBRARY: A PLATFORM FOR OPEN SCIENCE
Fermat's Library is introduced as a solution to these issues, providing a platform for annotating dense academic papers. The goal is to make scientific content more accessible by allowing users to add detailed explanations, context, and even external links (supporting LaTeX and Markdown) directly within the paper's margins. This collaborative annotation process enables papers to evolve, becoming easier to understand over time. The platform's features, such as 'Journal Club' for curated annotated papers, 'Margins' for individual or group annotation, and the 'Librarian' browser extension for arXiv, are all designed to foster a more open, collaborative, and accessible scientific ecosystem.
THE VISION FOR OPEN ACCESS AND COLLABORATION
A core tenet of Fermat's Library is the belief that all scientific articles should be freely accessible, advocating for a future where paywalls are abolished. They point to initiatives like the European Union requiring open access for funded research as hopeful signs. The discussion also explores how platforms like arXiv, a repository for preprints, have become vital, especially in rapidly evolving fields like machine learning, where research often builds on preprints before formal journal publication. The Batalha brothers envision a future where platforms built on top of open repositories like arXiv offer enhanced collaboration, annotation, and better methods for distinguishing good work from bad, moving beyond the current limitations of traditional peer review.
LESSONS FROM WIKIPEDIA AND STACK OVERFLOW
The conversation draws parallels between Fermat's Library's goals and the success of Wikipedia and Stack Overflow. These platforms demonstrate the power of crowdsourced, community-driven knowledge creation, despite their counter-intuitive nature (e.g., a publicly editable encyclopedia becoming a reliable knowledge source). The key to their success lies in creating systems that encourage and reward contributions, often by a disproportionately small group of highly dedicated users. The challenge for science is to replicate this model, fostering communities where individuals are motivated to contribute to collective scientific understanding through collaborative platforms and improved review processes, making scientific engagement more rewarding and less restrictive.
THE ART OF READING AND NOTE-TAKING FOR COMPREHENSION
Tips for effectively reading and comprehending scientific papers are shared. It's crucial to remember that papers are not optimized for clarity due to restrictive formats, so struggling with them doesn't necessarily mean the material is intrinsically hard. Strategies include reading conclusions first, then related work sections to gain context, and being prepared to jump between references. The 'quantum jump' phenomenon, where understanding suddenly clicks after extensive, seemingly chaotic exploration, is highlighted. For note-taking, the advice is to write notes as if teaching a 'future self' who has forgotten the material, leveraging one's own recent learning process to explain difficult steps and capture insights effectively.
THE CHARM AND INSPIRATION OF 'WEIRD' PAPERS
The discussion delves into unique and highly engaging papers annotated on Fermat's Library. One example is Tom Apostol's paper on the Eupalinos Tunnel, an ancient engineering marvel built in 6th century BC Greece, where the method of construction was a mystery for two millennia. Annotations on such papers provide crucial historical and technical context, enhancing accessibility. Another captivating example is Enrico Fermi's one-page classified report, 'My Observations at Trinity,' where he calculated the atomic bomb's energy using paper pieces and their displacement from the blast. These "back of the envelope" calculations highlight ingenious problem-solving and demonstrate how scientific rigor can be applied to unexpected situations.
THE BEAUTY OF MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE COMMUNICATION
The Batalha brothers discuss the intrinsic beauty of mathematics, noting its 'infinite half-life' – Euclidean elements are as valid today as they were 2000 years ago. They also touch upon the power of platforms like Twitter for learning, using concise, dopamine-hit-inducing posts to reveal fascinating mathematical facts or principles. This approach aims to make science engaging and accessible, showing that curiosity is inherent to humans and can be sparked in anyone, regardless of their perceived aptitude for math or physics. By presenting scientific beauty in digestible formats, Fermat's Library on Twitter acts as a 'math drug dealer,' hooking people into deeper exploration.
THE CHALLENGE OF ENDURING THE 'STUCKNESS' IN STARTUPS AND RESEARCH
A significant challenge in both startups and scientific research is the non-linear reward function and the necessity of enduring periods of being 'stuck.' Unlike traditional educational or career paths that offer consistent small rewards for effort, startups and research often require immense effort with no immediate payoff, leading to demoralizing dead ends. This 'dirty water' phase, as likened to turning on a faucet, must be persevered through until 'clean water' (breakthroughs) emerges. Navigating when to persist with a direction versus when to pivot remains a core, difficult question for founders and researchers, with no easy framework for decision-making.
THE LONG-TERM VISION FOR FERMAT'S LIBRARY
Fermat's Library operates with a 20-year vision, intentionally taking a slower, more organic growth path as a side project. This approach contrasts with typical startup frameworks that demand rapid growth and quick returns, which might force premature monetization or compromise the core mission. They believe that some transformative projects, like arXiv, simply require decades to reach their full potential. The ultimate goal is to keep pushing new features and ideas to organically discover 'viral ideas' that will truly revolutionize science, perhaps even challenging the for-profit model of scientific communication, akin to Wikipedia's non-profit success.
SOCCER, PSYCHOLOGY, AND STATISTICAL ANALYSIS
The conversation also dips into the application of science in sports. Drawing on their own research in applying machine learning to basketball data, the Batalhas discuss the challenges of statistical analysis in dynamic sports like soccer and basketball, which lack the discrete, repeatable events of baseball. The 'hot hand' phenomenon in basketball, for instance, where players are believed to be more likely to make a shot after a previous success, was debunked by early statistical analysis. This segment highlights how objective data analysis can uncover fascinating insights into human performance and psychology within constrained, observable systems like sports.
ADVICE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE: CURIOSITY AND PERSEVERANCE
For young people, the advice centers on cultivating enthusiasm and curiosity. Drawing inspiration from Henri Poincaré, they urge exploration of the world's mysteries, not for status or money, but as a path to finding happiness and meaning. It's about starting small and letting curiosity lead, trusting that the iterative process of inquiry, even through perceived expertise, will guide one to unexpected discoveries. This journey of lifelong learning and exploration, where one never knows where they'll end up (like Fermat's Library itself), is presented as the most fulfilling approach to life and career.
INTERDISCIPLINARY EXPLORATION AND REAL-WORLD APPLICATION
The discussion touches upon the value of interdisciplinary studies, contrasting the rigid European educational system with the more flexible American one. They emphasize that a background in challenging fields like physics or mathematics instills a fearlessness in tackling new, complex domains; one is not afraid to step into finance or other industries due to having grappled with inherently difficult concepts. This adaptability and foundational problem-solving skill set are highlighted as key benefits of a rigorous scientific education, empowering individuals to navigate diverse career paths and contribute across various sectors.
Mentioned in This Episode
●Software & Apps
●Companies
●Organizations
●Books
●Concepts
●People Referenced
Common Questions
The human backstory of scientists and their environment is incredibly insightful, providing context and making concepts more memorable. It reveals that breakthroughs often result from a complex journey, not just 'eureka moments,' and can include random interactions and personal struggles, as seen with Richard Feynman and Ian Goodfellow.
Topics
Mentioned in this video
The technology giant, whose PageRank algorithm and Google Scholar service are discussed in the context of scientific information dissemination.
A live-streaming platform, cited as evidence that there is a market for watching people do things they are good at, and that this can inspire interest in various topics.
A video-sharing platform, mentioned as a potential tool for explaining scientific papers through video content.
A question and answer site for professional and enthusiast programmers, highlighted as another example of a highly productive, crowdsourced community that generates significant value.
A popular audio streaming platform, used as an analogy to highlight the ease of accessing music compared to the difficulty of accessing academic papers.
A British artificial intelligence research laboratory, mentioned for their published paper on soccer strategy analysis.
Co-founder of Microsoft and philanthropist, whose Gates Foundation requires that research it funds be openly accessible to the public.
An Argentine professional footballer and manager, considered by the host as one of the greatest of all time for his moments of genius and ability to carry teams, despite personal flaws.
A renowned computer scientist and mathematician, considered by the guest as deserving a 'Nobel Peace Prize' for his work on TeX and LaTeX, which greatly impacted scientific publishing.
Film director (e.g., Ex Machina) praised for his attention to technical details in scientific and science fiction contexts.
A Fields Medal-winning mathematician whose book describes his journey from PhD student to Fields Medalist, emphasizing random interactions and discussions in research.
A Nobel laureate in Economics, known for his work on prospect theory and behavioral economics, mentioned as a scientist with childlike curiosity.
A researcher and author of the book 'Gaming the Metrics,' which critiques the negative influence of impact factors on science.
Co-founder of Apple Inc. His Q&A session at MIT was mentioned for a significant pause before answering a question, sparking interest in silence analysis.
A Nobel laureate in Physics, known for his work in quantum electrodynamics. His personal backstory of regaining enthusiasm for physics inspired by a wobbling plate is highlighted.
A Fields Medal-winning mathematician who initiated the 'Polymath Projects' to explore massively collaborative mathematics online. He also incentivizes famous scientists to publish in open journals.
A British-American computer scientist, mathematician, and theoretical physicist, known for Mathematica and Wolfram Alpha. Consulted for the movie 'Arrival' on alien language.
American podcast host and comedian. His podcast was used as a source for analyzing silence distributions and eye-tracking patterns in conversations.
An Australian-American mathematician, often referred to as 'the greatest living mathematician.' He is cited as an inspiration for open science and collaboration due to his blog and willingness to discuss his struggles.
A blogger known for his visual explanations of complex topics. His visualization of life paths as a branching tree is mentioned to illustrate optionality in career choices.
A brilliant theoretical physicist and mathematician known for his humility and wide-ranging work. He was described as prioritizing questions over answers and having childlike curiosity, even in old age.
A mathematician whose reframing of the Poincaré Conjecture created an 'ideal' problem for Perelman to solve.
A prolific Hungarian mathematician, known for his vast number of collaborations and for posing many open problems, often with prize money.
Founder of comma.ai, known for live-coding and distilling papers, providing an engaging and motivating example of technical skill and problem-solving.
The pseudonymous entity (or entities) who developed bitcoin, authored the bitcoin whitepaper, and created and deployed bitcoin's original reference implementation. The bitcoin paper is discussed as a starting point for understanding cryptography.
A South African-born mathematician, mentioned as the chair of the math department at Princeton who tried to recruit Perelman.
An American astronomer, planetary scientist, cosmologist, astrophysicist, astrobiologist, author, and science communicator. Mentioned as a role model for his serious approach to science communication.
An American science communicator, television presenter, and mechanical engineer. Mentioned as a popular science role model ('the Science Guy').
An American stand-up comedian and actor, noted for his use of long pauses in conversation, particularly on Joe Rogan's podcast.
A prominent researcher in machine learning, credited with the invention of Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs). His backstory of conceiving GANs in a bar was mentioned.
An Argentine professional footballer, considered by the host to have surpassed Maradona in greatness, admired for his aesthetic genius in the game.
Pioneer in scientometrics and citation analysis, whose early work on using citations to map influence inspired Google's PageRank algorithm.
A Portuguese professional footballer, described as an inspiring figure due to his exceptional work ethic, physical discipline, and sustained performance at a high level into older age.
A British mathematician famous for proving Fermat's Last Theorem, a problem that remained open for over 300 years.
Co-founder of Google, whose PageRank algorithm was inspired by Eugene Garfield's work on citation analysis.
A Nobel laureate in Physics, known for his ability in 'back of the envelope' calculations. His one-page classified report calculating the energy of the Trinity atomic bomb explosion is highlighted as an example of his genius.
An American astrophysicist, planetary scientist, author, and science communicator. Mentioned as a popular science role model.
A theoretical computer scientist known for his work on quantum computing and his blog, praised for his authentic and real communication style.
A French lawyer and mathematician who famously scribbled his 'Last Theorem' in the margin of a book, inspiring the name for Fermat's Library.
An ancient Greek mathematician and engineer, mentioned in connection with his (potentially incorrect) historical description of how the Tunnel of Eupalinos was built.
A Russian mathematician known for his contributions to geometric topology and differential geometry, who proved the Poincaré Conjecture but controversially declined both the Fields Medal and the Clay Millennium Prize.
A former Navy SEAL and author who is interested in military tactics, mentioned hypothetically as someone who would analyze the Battle of Winterfell considering tactical complexities like dragons.
A molecular biologist, physicist, and neuroscientist, co-discoverer of the structure of the DNA molecule. He is mentioned as having opposed the 'Information Exchange Group' in the 1960s.
A mathematician who authored a paper about the ancient Tunnel of Eupalinos, detailing its construction and correcting historical misconceptions.
A British singer-songwriter, whose analogy of a 'faucet' (dirty water coming out before clean water) is used to describe the creative process and the need to persevere through initial 'stuckness' or imperfect work.
Pioneer in computer science, known for Dijkstra's shortest path algorithm. His backstory of conceiving it in a coffee shop in Amsterdam without pen and paper highlights the elegance of the algorithm.
Co-founder of Google, whose PageRank algorithm was inspired by Eugene Garfield's work on citation analysis.
Entrepreneur and business magnate. His conversation on Joe Rogan's podcast was analyzed for silence distribution patterns.
A popular fantasy television series, specifically the 'Battle of Winterfell' episode, was the subject of a scientific paper calculating the required kill ratio for victory.
A science fiction film, mentioned for its heavy consultation with scientists, leading to published papers on black hole visualizations.
A YouTube channel that provides multi-hour breakdowns of machine learning papers, sometimes featuring authors, and is highlighted as an effective way to communicate complex scientific ideas.
A science fiction film directed by Alex Garland, mentioned as an example of a director who thinks deeply about technical details in sci-fi.
A science fiction film, mentioned for its collaboration with Stephen Wolfram on designing an alien language based on mathematics.
A book and film about the Oakland Athletics baseball team and their manager Billy Beane's statistical approach to player recruitment. Used as an analogy for applying data analytics in other sports like basketball.
A leading academic journal, mentioned alongside Nature for its high impact factor and influence in scientific publishing.
Refers to the foundational papers proposing and confirming the Higgs boson, mentioned as a seminal historical paper available on Fermat's Library.
A highly prestigious scientific journal with a very high impact factor, discussed in the context of publishing economy and the pressure for 'New York Times great' articles.
A book by Mario Biagioli that delves into how impact factors and other metrics negatively affect scientific research and publishing by incentivizing gamification.
The foundational paper for Bitcoin by Satoshi Nakamoto, admired for its precise language and its role as an accessible entry point for understanding significant cryptographic concepts.
A mathematical treatise consisting of 13 books attributed to ancient Greek mathematician Euclid, known for its timeless validity in mathematics.
A science fiction novel by Andy Weir, praised for its scientific plausibility and detailed discussions of challenges in space colonization.
Refers to the original paper by Watson and Crick describing the double helix structure of DNA, mentioned as a seminal historical paper available on Fermat's Library.
The theory that describes how light and matter interact. Feynman's QED paper, a seminal work, was discussed in the context of his personal backstory and creative process.
A famous topological theorem proved by Grigori Perelman, which states that every simply connected, closed 3-manifold is homeomorphic to the 3-sphere.
The fictional setting for many of J.R.R. Tolkien's fantasy works like The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. Discussed regarding attempts to mathematically determine if its map could represent a spherical planet.
A conjecture about the distribution of the zeros of the Riemann zeta function, mentioned as an interesting unsolved mathematical problem that has not yet been annotated on Fermat's Library.
An ancient branch of natural philosophy focused on transmuting base metals into gold and discovering elixirs of life. Discussed as a symbol of dreaming the impossible, which can lead to scientific breakthroughs.
A hypothetical megastructure that completely encompasses a star and captures a large percentage of its power output, theorized by Freeman Dyson. Its properties, construction, and detection methods are summarized.
Google's algorithm for ranking web pages in search results, developed by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, and inspired by citation analysis in scientific publishing.
A system where submitted work and reviews are publicly accessible, contrasted with traditional, anonymous peer review.
A prestigious international award given to two to four mathematicians under 40 years of age at the International Congress of Mathematicians, mentioned in relation to Cédric Villani and Grigori Perelman.
A famous theorem in number theory, stating that no three positive integers a, b, and c can satisfy the equation a^n + b^n = c^n for any integer value of n greater than 2. Its history of being unproven for centuries is cited as the inspiration for 'Fermat's Library' name.
Seven mathematical problems for which the Clay Mathematics Institute has offered a US$1 million prize for the first correct solution and proof. Perelman rejected the prize for the Poincaré Conjecture.
A problem posed by Paul Erdős concerning sequences of ±1. Its solution was discussed as an example of online collaboration, with a key insight coming from a blog comment on Terence Tao's blog.
A class of artificial intelligence algorithms used in unsupervised machine learning, explained with the backstory of its invention by Ian Goodfellow.
A preprint server for biology, similar to arXiv. Its slower adoption compared to arXiv due to historical pressure from journals is highlighted.
An incredible platform for annotating papers, co-founded by Luís and João Batalha. It allows scientists and academics to annotate equations, figures, and ideas in the margins of papers, similar to Pierre de Fermat's famous last theorem.
An open-access repository of electronic preprints, predominantly in the fields of mathematics, physics, computer science, quantitative biology, quantitative finance, statistics, electrical engineering and systems science, and economics. It is praised for its role in rapid scientific dissemination but noted for its limited features beyond hosting papers.
A document preparation system used for technical and scientific documents, often in fields like mathematics, physics, and computer science. Its role in unifying scientific publication is highlighted.
A prestigious American research university, mentioned as the institution where Perelman taught during his postdoc and rejected a faculty position offer.
A free online encyclopedia, lauded as a 'cosmological constant of the internet' for its success as a publicly edited, reliable source of knowledge, and its crowdsourcing model.
An online community of data scientists and machine learning practitioners, known for hosting datasets and competitions. A dataset of 600,000 free throws was used to re-run hot hand in basketball analysis.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, noted for its policy of requiring open access for research it funds, contributing to the movement towards open science.
A prominent American newspaper, used as a benchmark for the level of public interest required for articles in top journals like Nature to sustain high impact factors.
A primary agency of the U.S. government, responsible for biomedical and public health research. Sponsored an experiment in the 1960s to share biology preprints.
The Boston Celtics, a professional basketball team. The guest's work with them on applying machine learning and statistics to analyze player tracking data in basketball is mentioned.
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