{"id":2443,"date":"2016-11-23T09:45:40","date_gmt":"2016-11-23T15:45:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/blogonmathblogs\/?p=2443"},"modified":"2016-11-24T09:51:38","modified_gmt":"2016-11-24T15:51:38","slug":"what-should-mathematicians-do-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ams.org\/blogonmathblogs\/2016\/11\/23\/what-should-mathematicians-do-now\/","title":{"rendered":"What Should Mathematicians Do Now?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mathematicians sometimes pretend we are above the everyday vicissitudes of life, preferring to inhabit a realm of abstraction and perfection, but that\u2019s a lie. We live here too. We are voters, citizens, residents, and teachers. What happens in our country matters. I\u2019m sure Anna and I will eventually get back to writing about other parts of the math blogosphere, but the election is still big news, and we as mathematicians need to ask ourselves what to do next. <\/span><\/p>\n

I know our readers are not a monolith, but a large number of you are mathematicians at universities in the US. I\u2019ve written this post with that in mind, though much of it will be relevant to people in other careers as well. I am also aware that though I did not support Trump, some of my readers probably did. I am not arguing with you about that. I trust that in spite of that difference, we have similar standards for how to treat others, and we are in favor of a strong, healthy culture of math and science research.<\/span><\/p>\n

So what are mathematicians to do? Many of the actions we take are the same actions any citizens should take right now: talk to our representatives about issues that are important to us, donate to groups that need our help, reach out to friends and family who are feeling scared, and take care of ourselves so we can continue those other actions long-term. But I think there are a few ways to take action that relate specifically to mathematicians and the jobs they do.<\/span><\/p>\n

1.\u00a0Keep students safe<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

In the wake of Trump\u2019s election, many people feel scared. Trump\u2019s rhetoric energized some people who are racist, sexist, Islamaphobic, homophobic, and transphobic. Since the election, there have been numerous reports of hate crimes targeting people of color, religious minorities, and LGBTQIA+ people. Professors should be doing everything they can to make sure their classrooms and campuses are safe.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s tempting to think that math classrooms should be politics-free, but the right response to the election is probably not business as usual. Many educators have written about how they\u2019ve talked with their classes since the election. I especially appreciate Jose Vilson\u2019s post: Politics are always at play in our classrooms<\/span><\/a>. We also need to continue promoting diversity in mathematics. One way of doing that is to cut back on the hero-worship of dead white men. Astrophysicist Chanda Hsu Prescod-Weinstein has a list of resources for decolonizing science<\/span><\/a>\u00a0that can help us do just that. I\u2019ve also written posts with resources about black mathematicians<\/span><\/a>, Hispanic\/Latinx mathematicians<\/span><\/a>, and women in math<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

One group likely to be at risk in the next administration is undocumented immigrants. If you are concerned about undocumented students, you might consider joining the hundreds of other professors who have signed this petition to extend the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program<\/span><\/a>. DACA allows undocumented people who came to the US as children to obtain work permits and remain in the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

2. Fight misinformation<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

As Anna mentioned in her last post<\/span><\/a>, there is evidence that misinformation (\u201cfake news\u201d) may have affected the outcome of the election, thanks to the Facebook algorithm bubble. Since then, a lot has been written about how important the phenomenon was to this election and what we need to do to stop it. Cathy O\u2019Neil\u2019s book Weapons of Math Destruction feels especially prescient right now. (Read my review of it here<\/span><\/a>.) Her blog mathbabe.org<\/span><\/a> is one of my go-to resources, and she is part of a New York Times debate<\/span><\/a> about how to best stop the fake news problem<\/span><\/a>. Here are some other things I\u2019ve read recently about fake news and the election:<\/span><\/p>\n

This Analysis Shows How Fake Election News Stories Outperformed Read News On Facebook<\/a><\/span> by Craig Silverman
\n<\/span>Fake News Is Not the Only Problem<\/a><\/span> by Gilad Lotan
\n<\/span>The \u201cThey Had Their Minds Made Up Anyway\u201d Excuse<\/a><\/span> by Mike Caulfield
\n<\/span>Factiness<\/a><\/span> by Nathan Jurgenson
\n<\/span>Post-Truth Antidote: Our Roles in Virtuous Spirals of Trust in Science<\/a><\/span> by Hilda Bastian<\/span><\/p>\n

Fighting misinformation is an area in which I think mathematicians are especially, though certainly not uniquely, equipped to take action. When we write proofs, we are trying to construct watertight arguments using pure logic. Ideally, we attempt to poke holes in our own work until we can ensure that it is impenetrable.<\/span><\/p>\n

We need to use those skills when we read the news or the outrageous videos our friends share on Facebook, whether we agree or disagree with the conclusions of those stories or videos. Apply the same skepticism to the stories you want to believe are true as the ones you reject. Check Snopes, try to find the numbers instead of taking someone else\u2019s word for it, listen to the full context of the quote, see how other sites are spinning it. Settle for an answer of \u201cit\u2019s complicated\u201d if it is. <\/span><\/p>\n

An example: in the past few days, a growing number of people have been calling for an audit of the vote in Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania (update: as I\u2019m posting this, the audit is looking more and more likely). Those of us who wanted a different outcome could latch on to the story that statistical anomalies make the election look \u201crigged.\u201d<\/span><\/a> There are a lot of numbers floating around in that article, and it sounds truthy. But J. Alex Halderman, one of the computer scientists urging Clinton to call for a recount, is more measured<\/span><\/a>. \u201cWere this year\u2019s deviations from pre-election polls the results of a cyberattack? Probably not. I believe the most likely explanation is that the polls were systematically wrong, rather than that the election was hacked.\u201d Zeynep Tufekci<\/span><\/a>, a sociologist who studies our relationship to technology, wrote about voting machine vulnerability before the election<\/span><\/a>. Her message is that it\u2019s not likely that it affected this election, but we should be auditing the vote regularly and making sure we leave a paper trail. Halderman\u2019s and Tufekci\u2019s messages aren\u2019t as sexy as \u201crigged election!\u201d but we need to fight the urge to jump to the sexiest conclusions without sufficient evidence. <\/span><\/p>\n

How else can we fight misinformation? By supporting real journalism. I recently subscribed to the Washington Post because I\u2019ve found a lot of value in their coverage of Trump\u2019s appointments and financial dealings, but there are many other media outlets that you might find equally or more valuable. The media certainly made mistakes in its coverage of the election, but we still need to support journalism. As subscribers, we should also hold media outlets accountable when they screw up.<\/span><\/p>\n

We should probably also read more media we disagree with. Yen Duong of Baking and Math recommends the National Review<\/span><\/a>. I recently read \u201cYou are still crying wolf<\/span><\/a>\u201d by Scott Alexander of Slate Star Codex. I don\u2019t agree completely with his thesis in that post, but thinking about why instead of dismissing it outright has helped me think about where my preconceived notions come from and how to engage in this conversation.<\/span><\/p>\n

3. Support climate change research<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

This is more specific than the above suggestions, but a Trump advisor recently suggested that we should defund NASA\u2019s climate change research<\/span><\/a>. Climate change is likely the most pressing issue of our time. We have to keep studying it and try to find ways to mitigate the damage it is causing.<\/span><\/p>\n

4. Read history<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I hope the people who are warning us that the US is falling into authoritarianism\/fascism\/kleptocracy are wrong<\/span><\/a>. Or that their warnings help us avoid those dire predictions. But it has happened before, and it can happen again. I think mathematicians would do well to read up on the history of math in G\u00f6ttingen in the 1930s, perhaps in this Notices article from 1995 by Saunders Mac Lane<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finally, I\u2019ll leave you with this post by Matilde of the blog Listening to Golem about the moral responsibilities of mathematics and science<\/span><\/a>: \u201cPack all the tools you need in your bag: network theory, bayesian analysis, probability, differential equations, cryptography, computing, game theory, neural networks. We need them all and we need them now. Get down to work for the sake of our future.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Mathematicians sometimes pretend we are above the everyday vicissitudes of life, preferring to inhabit a realm of abstraction and perfection, but that\u2019s a lie. We live here too. We are voters, citizens, residents, and teachers. What happens in our country … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

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