
Portrait of Terence Tao [video] - bhavishyad
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJLQj4hQs2Q
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grahamannett
Terence Tao is so incredibly interesting and unpretentious. I've often found
that math "geniuses" seem to be the least pretentious of the genius level
people in academia/stem and I slightly wonder if that's actually true and if
so, why?

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kkylin
He is also incredibly clear -- I've had the chance to hear a couple of his
(technical) talks. He does not oversimplify, but has a way to explaining the
heart of the issue in non-technical terms so one could follow without being an
expert in the specific area being discussed. (Though I'd imagine experts would
get even more out of his talks.)

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btilly
That is no accident.

A requirement for clear speech is clear thinking. Very clear thinking is
required to be a successful polymath in a technically challenging field.

In order to accomplish in a technical field, such as math, you need to think
very "efficiently". It is possible to do this by spending so long coming up
with a mental model of a specific area that your thoughts are efficient, but
cannot necessarily be communicated to people except when their mental
understanding is a reasonable match to your own.

However you cannot do this simultaneously in a great many areas. Therefore a
polymath must find ways to construct models that are both simple and
efficient. The underlying simplicity of their understanding then becomes
evident in how clearly they can explain a precise understanding of whatever
they are talking about.

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kornish
Well phrased. It's no coincidence that Feynman, another famous polymath, was
also famously clear and concise.

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mhh__
[https://terrytao.wordpress.com/](https://terrytao.wordpress.com/)

The blog of the man himself: Always fun to read, and especially rewarding if
you thought you were familiar with what he's discussing...

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baabo
The interview is more recent than 2006. The year refers to the year he
received fields medal.

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dang
Thanks, I think we misread that.

