Dear John, Thanks for your candid and informative letter. I feel that few people who so far have responded to me (or to others in the discussion that I started) really understand what my concerns are.
Anyway, I'm sure these comments won't put your worries to rest! They're not really meant to. I just think it's good to see the issue of "category theory and string theory" as part of a much bigger and more complicated mess. :-)
Your comments were very interesting and of course they will not put my worries to rest. I am grateful, though, for your taking this as part of a larger issue, on which I could expand more, but will not, since all I wanted was to raise awareness, not to preach (or even less to police). Best thoughts, Marta --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "John Baez" <baez@math.ucr.edu> To: categories@mta.ca (categories) Subject: categories: cracks and pots Date: Thu, 16 Mar 2006 12:47:53 -0800 (PST)
Dear Marta -
You write:
I am relieved to learn (from the postings by David Yetter and John Baez) that Motl's blog on the issue of categories and string theory is based on 1) (Yetter) Motl's reluctance, as is the case with many string theorists, to refuse to learn category theory, and 2) (Baez) Motl's personal dislike of John Baez and of many other people, so that since Motl's personality is well-known, any damage will be minimal.
Good!
... [Further repetition deleted by moderator.]