Mathematical antidote
In Politico, Tim Ross profiles Romanian presidential candidate Nicușor Dan, showing how his deep roots in mathematics shape qualities like humility, rigor, and curiosity—offering a powerful lens for leadership amid political complexity.
Tim Ross
Over at politico Tim Ross wrote a piece about Romanian presidential candidate Nicușor Dan, the current mayor of Bucharest, and a former top performer in the International Math Olympiad.
It is a wonderful article which illustrates some of the moral qualities that deep engagement with mathematics bestows on practitioners. I'm convinced that mathematics can teach us behaviors and attitudes that help us navigate and lead in circumstances of disarray, confusion and a preponderance of narrative over precision.
Humility: As a mathematician you encounter a ladder of truth and talent on which your capability and horizon at every moment naturally places itself. Hard work will get you only so far. Insights and clarity are given to some, not others, and at times. That means that no one can credibly put their own talent above all possible others'; no personal hierarchy can credibly stand up to epistemic scrutiny.
Flexibility: Mathematical inquiry is like rotating a crystal to isolate a direction of illumination that excites its structure with radiant luster; it is like cutting of branches of a tree that promise no blooming petals; it is like raking an infinite field to isolate nuggets of gold. Ideas that lead astray must be abandoned ruthlessly, new paths must be invented constantly.
Skepticism: The counterpart to humility about one's own talent is a brutal attitude towards standards of truth claimed by others. No matter who you are, unless you can convince me without doubt that you're right, I cannot base my own reasoning on what you claim.
Curiosity: There is always more math than you can swallow, there are always more facets than you can explore, there is a lifetime of depth hiding behind simple phenomena. Grasp this and shrink, or dive into where your instincts take you.
Rigor: Mathematical thought encounters absolute constraints. Things that are impossible. No hope, no point to linger. Get used to finding answers where you did not want to be finding them.
Playfulness: What's it all for? For some, mathematics is the opposite of "anything useful", others admire its "unreasonable effectiveness." You can't allow yourself and others the pretense of natural eminence, and you're guided by your will and your aesthetics in picking apart knots and contemplating labyrinthine weaves. You must be naturally hostile to the seriousness that hurts and forces people into suffering.
