Bonus Friday link: the issue with E. O. Wilson isn’t math, it’s collaboration

Via The Molecular Ecologist, just found this fine post from evolutionary biologist and polymath Jon F. Wilkins, arguing that the real problem with E. O. Wilson’s editorial isn’t underplaying the importance of math in science, it’s his outdated view of what collaboration is like. Collaboration with a theoretician is mostly not a matter of “have idea, find someone who knows math to turn that idea into math.” Collaboration is a much richer, two-way interaction than that. It’s a lovely post, using an extended analogy with the translation of poetry to make the argument. Go read.