Who said anything about drugs?
Would you expect a mathematician to make a better chess player than an artist?
Sort:
In painting or writing, brilliant people express something that's been expressed before, in a really clever way. And I don't mean that as an insult, all respect to them who create timeless masterpieces. Only brilliant people can do it.
This happens in math too, but what's interesting in mathematics is that a brilliant person can express something that's never been expressed before! Now that's creativity.
"Who said anything about drugs?"
I believe you did: "Have you ever had hallucinations drip out of your eyes and ruin the floor?" and all the other drug-induced scenes which followed that statement. I also take it you haven't had to do much higher-level math either?
Rubydave2 wrote:
"Who said anything about drugs?"
I believe you did:
Hallucinations arent limited to drug abuse. Have you ever seen a cloud turn into an elephant? Look at this Van Gogh(if it's too small, look online for a bigger one) with the same mindset, look for 'stuff' inside the painting. And watch out, it's this sorta thing that drove Van Gogh insane. If all you see is a tree, exclude yourself from the creative club(in the general sense of the word, not the literal)
If you can see a face or creature, you are getting there, when it starts making faces at you, you are hallucinating.
Another thought.
Artists express something related to humanity. Be it an individual or society, be it our thoughts or experiences, etc.
A mathematician expresses something about the universe. Numbers beyond numbers, shapes beyond shapes, reality beyond experience.
If you start 'communicating' with it, you have lost your better senses.
Jan 7, 2015
0
#130
My wife told me that the only time she really understood Calculus 4 was the day the room, situated in the Science Hall, was flooded with ether from an experiment that had gone wrong in the lab one floor below! She could actually visualize the different dimensions!
Sometimes hallucinations help to understand math.
Jan 7, 2015
0
#132
Between the mathematician and the artist I'd expect that whomever trained more would be the better player. This is assuming they are using the same resources to train.
I'll link a book I like. One reviewer says:
"I highly recommend this book to anyone who has any interest in mathematics, or needs a reason to find it interesting."
http://www.amazon.com/The-Math-Book-Pythagoras-Mathematics/dp/1402788290
And I'll note that the math 99% of us learn in school is pretty much the definition of boring and bland. The opposite of creative. You learn some rules and follow those rules to pass the test. A mathematician (as in the title of this topic) makes their own rules. Asks questions, sometimes unanswerable, then invents ways to try and answer them. And not just obscure number problems. Many have practical applications to today's engineering, medicine, and understanding of physics.
To my mind, great mathematicians are easily among the most creative humans that have ever lived.
Why is the question now "who is more creative"? It has NOTHING to do with the original question. This is like asking who is more creative? 1.A bag boy? or 2.His cashier ?
The question is, "what is more important in chess, math or artistry"?
I think this is a great question, that I don't feel I have the perfect answer for. I'd say, chess is pretty much 'locked down'. It's a set of rules and laws that can all be calculated. If this is so, the mathematician would have the advantage. However, there is a certain artistry to chess also, but I think here, we can replace the word artistry with 'human touch'. And then it leads us to understand that maybe, being human is an art itself.
BigKingBud wrote:
The question is, "what is more important in chess, math or artistry"?
No, that wasn't the original question. Read the subject line again. It is a yes or no question (unless the original question was changed by someone):
"Would you expect a mathematician to make a better chess player than an artist?"
"Yes" is my answer. On average, I would expect that. I'm not positive I am right, and I am not saying chess is not an "art" or does not have aspects of art in it. I think math can have aspects of art too. That was not the question, however.
I'd love to see some studies.
Jan 7, 2015
0
#136
But what if the artist was also very musical, they would be using the chess side of the brain, maybe I should have asked "do musicians make better chess players than mathematicians" just wondering ...
Jan 7, 2015
0
#137
Musicians and mathematicians use the same side of their brains. The abilities are pretty closely linked.
Jan 7, 2015
0
#138
It could be argued that the two activities are equally complex, many artists are also musical, I am not changing tack as still think an artist can equal a mathematician any day in chess ability, I know chess playing artists and people very skilled at mathematics who don't even play chess, so many people I ask if they play chess say "no it's too boring", I thought all guys played chess but they are as rare as hens teeth in real life ...
Jan 7, 2015
0
#139
Players such as Lasker and Bronstein tried answering this basic question in different ways. One of the great attractions of chess is that different types of thinkers are drawn to the game. While the game is primarily logical and spatial, it does reward creative thinking. Mathematicians tend to do better than artists, but there are plenty of great artists who also excelled at this royal game.
Yep