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+--- Thread: John Baez: "Symmetric Monoidal Categories A Rosetta Stone" (/showthread.php?tid=1329)
John Baez: "Symmetric Monoidal Categories A Rosetta Stone" - MphLee - 05/27/2021
John Baez recently gave this short informal talk about monoidal categories.
The video is not long and is intended to be for a general audience (you don't need to be good with algebra or math in general to follow the talk): so don't expect to find formulas, axioms and stuff like that.
Abstract: Scientists and engineers like to describe processes or systems made of smaller pieces using diagrams: flow charts, Petri nets, electrical circuit diagrams, signal-flow graphs, chemical reaction networks, Feynman diagrams and the like. Many of these diagrams fit into a common framework: the mathematics of symmetric monoidal categories. When we embrace this realization, we start seeing connections between seemingly different subjects. We also get better tools for understanding open systems: systems that interact with their environment. This takes us beyond the old scientific paradigm that emphasizes closed systems.
https://youtu.be/DAGJw7YBy8E