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Welcome to MotherFunctor®.org - an alternative website for college activists.
| mǒth’er : |
That which gives birth to something |
| fūnc’tǒr : |
A morphism of categories (math) |
| mǒth’er·fūnc’tǒr : |
A website that gives birth to a categorical change in exchanging scientific news and comment. |
Up Against the Blackboard, MotherFunctor
In the radical anti-war days of the early 1970's at Berkeley, U.C. mathematics professor, Fields Medallist and activist, Steve Smale, together with several colleagues, published a short-lived departmental "counter newsletter" of relevant news and comment that "might not otherwise be heard". The MF newsletter, run by volunteer labor, lasted only two years, 1971-1972, and was aimed at organizing scientists to challenge authority.
(Photos taken at the U.C. Berkeley Bancroft Library's Fall 2005 Exhibit on the Mathematical Sciences at Berkeley.)
Now, with the unprecedented power of publishing on the Internet outside the constraints of The Establishment, it is time to resurrect the MotherFunctor spirit and "hoist the black flag" - for scientists to work together to improve the system, especially the scientific culture we are leaving to the next generation.
"Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin to slit throats."
- H. L. Mencken
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