Issue4 0607GMYTH组 第1次作业--PPMMSS

ppmmssUID: 205288

No field of study can advance significantly unless outsiders bring their knowledge and experience to that field, is that correct? The speaker claims so. I fundamentally agree with the perspective, for the world around us manifests itself as a seamless web of physical and anthropogenic forces, which function in the ways that can only be understood through a pair of spectacles with crossing disciplines. Yet, the issue is less compelling when it comes to purely intellectual territory, such as Mathematics, as discussed below.

Information science aptly illustrates how paramount is the role that outsiders’ knowledge and experience plays. Had Von Neumann, one of the most outstanding scientists throughout the whole twentieth century, not devote his marvelous mathematical talent to the sphere of Computer science, we would still be sadly crippled in the manacles of repetitive and boring works and people in the rural area where transportation is not as good as urban district would still be isolated on a lonely island of information property in the midst of vast ocean of resources. Furthermore, another field in favor of author's opinion is Robotics, whose main purpose is to produce human-like machine that can emancipate us from repetitive, dangerous and heavy jobs. It involves a variety of disciplines such as mechanics, electronic engineering, mathematics, physics, computer science, etc, take my major-space robot-for example, aeronautics and astronomy are still needed. The physicist design the kinetic and dynamic equations of the robot, based on which the robot interact; mathematicians quantify the equations and obtain the solutions and exceptional cases, it is the work of the computer scientists to program and simulate the whole robot system in computer, and finally, a robot come out with mechanical engineer designing the physical model and electronic engineer making its electric and communication system.

Not only the science and technology reflecting the advantages of inter-disciplines, the archeology follows the same rules as well. Archeologists firstly unearth area of certain unknown period, and things whose features can not be recognized immediately by eyes, such as human bones and some staff which ancient people used for eating or otherwise, would be sent to chemist early to be purified and later to the physicist to determine the exact time using radioactive material. After that, it hinges on historian to inform the archeologist what had happened there in the determined period. With all the information gathered, archeologists are able to finish their work.

However, mathematics which amounts to purely spiritual scale of human minds serves as an exception. Reflecting on mathematics' history shows that tremendous advancement happens yet seldom as a result of outsiders' bringing knowledge and experience, for mathematics is a relatively dependent discipline which acts as an infrastructure for other science and technology. Admittedly, some disciplines such as physics does greatly influence mathematics, for instance, the quantum mechanics theory breeds the birth of a significant branch of mathematics-functional analysis and the calculus was developed as the strongest weapon to facilitate Mechanics. In spite of reason stated above, any shocking and impressing advancements in mathematics stems from its internal area, where no other disciplines could intervene.

Simply put, the world is an intricate web mingled with voluminous forces. People could not even dream to glimpse only a tip of iceberg of the surroundings, if we do not understand it in the context of a variety of disciplines. Although certain discipline is dependent to some extent, still we can not advance significantly in whatever intellectual inquiries unless we enhance the communications among different disciplines.