AlanCrowe comments on The best 15 words - Less Wrong

12 Post author: apophenia 03 October 2013 09:08AM

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Comment author: AlanCrowe 04 October 2013 08:06:12PM 5 points [-]

As Eilenberg-Mac Lane first observed, "category" has been defined in order to be able to define "functor" and "functor" has been defined in order to be able to define "natural transformation".

Saunders Mac Lane, Categories for the Working Mathematician

Comment author: [deleted] 04 October 2013 08:40:38PM 5 points [-]

Is there a way to explain that to a non-mathematician?

Comment author: Cyan 22 October 2013 02:31:52AM *  1 point [-]

He's saying that he made up categories and functors because what he really wanted to study was the idea of natural transformations, and the former notions are needed to define the latter. Or: categories and functors are nice, but natural transformations are the bomb.

Comment author: hylleddin 22 October 2013 02:12:07AM 0 points [-]

Or even a non-category theorist?

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