book
by G. H. Hardy
Hardy's 1940 defence of pure mathematics, written as he felt his own powers fading. It makes the case that beauty is the first test, that mathematics is a young man's game, and, in a famous boast that turned out wrong, that real number theory would never be any use in war. Short, proud and melancholy, it is the best account anyone has written of why a mathematician does the work.
March 2, 2026
Erik Hoel on why we can't trust AI self-reports, Peter Singer's moral evolution on Philosophize This!, and the Kurzgesagt video that made infinity feel small.
April 13, 2026
Experimental History on overlooked paths to impact, Dario Amodei's five-hour conversation with Lex Fridman, and Ethan Mollick on what just happened in AI.
March 30, 2026
Veritasium tells the story of antimatter's discovery, PBS Space Time asks if we can test quantum gravity, and Experimental History on why being serious matters.
