What I take from Grothendieck is the rising sea. You don't crack a stubborn rock with a hammer; you let the water rise around it until the rock gives way. That's how I want to understand mega-systems like the planet.
How the word moved
I took up his method in May 2025, in The System of the World. Let many observations soak together and wait. Of course I'm borrowing a method from algebraic geometry for a problem very far from it, but I've never let that stop me.
In my words
"I follow the methodology of mathematician Alexander Grothendieck, who likened understanding to a “rising sea” that slowly surrounds a stubborn rock."
from Bhumics 16: The System of the World, 14 May 2025
Related
- Related Perfectionism and Productionism - the rising sea is the method I use on it.
- Related Kurt Godel - I pair the two of them in the same essay.