It may be worth observing that that last proclamation probably sounds more cultish than it is, since I take it it’s a deliberate echo of Laplace’s words about Euler and it’s pretty clear that Laplace regarded Euler as an exceptional mathematician rather than a prophet or demigod.
I think this post would be more interesting if it clarified how the author’s attitude has changed since the kinda-cult-follower-like things he describes. The question “was I a cultist?” is largely a question of definitions; the question “am I a cultist?” may be (or at least be a useful proxy for) something more important, namely “am I, now, behaving in ways that are liable to confuse me, lose me friends, screw up my life, etc.?”.
It may be worth observing that that last proclamation probably sounds more cultish than it is, since I take it it’s a deliberate echo of Laplace’s words about Euler and it’s pretty clear that Laplace regarded Euler as an exceptional mathematician rather than a prophet or demigod.
I think this post would be more interesting if it clarified how the author’s attitude has changed since the kinda-cult-follower-like things he describes. The question “was I a cultist?” is largely a question of definitions; the question “am I a cultist?” may be (or at least be a useful proxy for) something more important, namely “am I, now, behaving in ways that are liable to confuse me, lose me friends, screw up my life, etc.?”.