Does Anyone Else Find Math... Depressing?

[Toothlessjoe]

I'm not so sure where this should go, so feel free to move it. I also had a joint earlier for the first time in forever, so this is mostly on-the-fly rambling.


Initial thoughts would suggest I mean boring; like how kids find Shakespeare depressing in English classes. This isn't exactly what I mean.

Math is absolutely wonderful - it's not opinionated. It doesn't tell me I am a bad person or a good person, it doesn't ponder about what we should do while we are here, it just is. Without going down the road of Greyfox, and keeping this simply about math (you know, 2+2=4) does anyone else find understanding math as depressing as it is useful?

I mean, math and statistics go hand in hand. Surely it's possible to use math to calculate a list of all the jobs I may do, the wages I can earn and all the possible ways and things I do with those wages. And so forth for everyone else.

Does anyone else not find it morbid that given enough effort and time we can conceivably turn our lives and futures into a proof? Have almost all our choices and future choices realistically mapped out ahead of us, for us to see, statistically speaking of course.

As useful as it is in its application, I try to avoid it as much as possible for these reasons. I have to say, I find its accuracy and truthfullness too autocratic.

[mafiabro]

I find science much more depressing.

[Overman]

I agree, mostly because I was something of a math prodigy (no bragging, I just had a natural mathematical mind) and was expected to go to college to learn this shit. But then I met some math majors and holy shit... there was no way I could spend years with these nerds. Of every possible major, the people who take math are the worst; most either autistic or asian. So I didn't pursue math education/career and am actually glad I didn't. Yeah, it's such a lifeless subject isn't it...

E: lifeless is poor word choice. Math can be beautiful and interesting and exciting. What I'm trying to say is that the thought of doing math for a lifetime is morbid, as opposed to the subject itself.

[Nero]

One joint can be pretty fucking traumatic.

[superspeedz]

Math is amazing, the reason why you get depressed is because you get insanely strong logical faculties from math and realize that you're surrounded by morons.

[Mantikore]

determinism may seem like an incredibly daunting concept, but i dont think we will ever come to a point were we can theoretically predict everthing that occurs in our universe. i might be wrong, and maybe one day, humanity achieves the status of gods, but until then, i reckon being able to predict the future with numbers is pretty interesting... as long as youre one of the few with the power to do so.

[Zay]

determinism may seem like an incredibly daunting concept, but i dont think we will ever come to a point were we can theoretically predict everthing that occurs in our universe.

To predict everything you'd need enough computing power to take into account every atom and subatomic particle. I don't think that's possible.

[Marijuanasaurus]

To predict everything you'd need enough computing power to take into account every atom and subatomic particle. I don't think that's possible.

Not in this era at least. Anything is possible if you give it time.

[NamelessNom4d]

I liken this to computer science, as that is my major. Look how quickly computers are advancing and becoming more and more powerful. As more and more research goes into heuristic programming, eventually intelligence can be mathematically derived. This means, that theoretically, a persons entire essence could one day, be emulated by algorithms and lines of code.

[DJ Meaty Cheeks]

Mathematics is merely a tool, nothing more nothing less.