On Interconnectedness

Recently, I saw a tweet from applied mathematician John D. Cook about computer science:

"Helping someone with computer science homework reminded me of the myriad little difficulties with programming assignments that aren’t explicitly part of the assignment."

This quip briefly reminded me of the fundamental interconnectedness of all things. So, I wrote this blurb and saved it in my drafts. But a few weeks later, I saw Robin Hanson's post "Politics Isn't About Policy." So, I thought I'd share this here:

A few years ago, my initial interest was chemistry—often spending days at the library reading in solitude. But I quickly learned chemistry wasn't just about chemicals, it's about the nature of matter. So, I turned to study physics. But physics wasn't just about physics, it's about trying to model that which we can't see. So, I turned study information and computer science. But computer science wasn't just about computers, programming, and building models, it's about systems and humans. So, I turned to study computer security. But computer security wasn't just about computer security, it's about systems, language, and behavior. But systems, language, and behavior weren't just about systems, language, and behavior—it's about biology—environments, cognition, and determinism—a distinct lack of randomness—hidden order. So, I turned to study cryptography. But cryptography wasn't just about the science of codes or codebreaking, it's about number theory. So, I turned to study pure mathematics.