The use of computers in mathematics has been somewhat controversial from the very start.
There are of course all the computer-assisted proofs (see 4 color theorem), as well as the partially-assisted ones (see Viazovska et al on packing problems in dimensions 8, 24). But even finding a solution numerically, then rigorously verifying its properties can leave a lingering sense of incompleteness, of a gap in understanding. I like this one quote by (allegedly) Wigner that illustrates it well:
"It is nice to know that the computer understands the problem, but I would like to understand the problem, too."
On opening the article, I was somehow expecting a mention of the large deviations formalism, which was (is?) fashionable in late 20th century, and gives a nice information theoretic view of the CLT. Or something like that. There's a ton of deep math there. So having a bio statistician say "look, the CLT is cool" is a bit underwhelming.
Edit: see eg John Baez's write-up What is Entropy? about the entropy maximization principle, where gaussians make an entrance.
While you can certainly argue that some texts have more substance to them than these literary works, you cannot deny that most texts have worse prose than the books.
Wasn't really following the subject, but amazed at how tendentious the writing here is. Starting with the title, unsubstantiated claims, really weird turns of phrase, etc. Here's an example:
> not just common, it’s start-up gospel from Altman’s longtime mentor, venture capitalist Peter Thiel
— according to whom? Is it supposed to be common knowledge? Is this even a helpful parallel?
In comparison, reporting on FT on this same topic is a lot more subdued and matter-of-fact.
There are of course all the computer-assisted proofs (see 4 color theorem), as well as the partially-assisted ones (see Viazovska et al on packing problems in dimensions 8, 24). But even finding a solution numerically, then rigorously verifying its properties can leave a lingering sense of incompleteness, of a gap in understanding. I like this one quote by (allegedly) Wigner that illustrates it well:
"It is nice to know that the computer understands the problem, but I would like to understand the problem, too."