Atsushi Kanazawa: The Mathematician Who Gnaws on Lead

2022/12/27

Teaching mathematics is difficult. There are many reasons for this, but one is that many students believe studying it is a waste of time because it doesn't seem like it will be useful in the future.

When I mentioned this to Emi Miyaji, a part-time lecturer, she introduced me to Torahiko Terada's essay "The Insect That Gnaws on Lead." This essay depicts a strange insect that eats lead and excretes lead, along with the various thoughts it inspires. Education is cited as an analogy for this insect's seemingly futile behavior. We forget most of what we learn in school, but the tiny portion we do retain holds significant meaning for us. If you avoid all waste, you can achieve nothing.

I am a so-called "Go fanatic," and I have learned much from the game of Go. One of the most important lessons is the balance between profit and "thickness" (atsumi). Explaining the concept of thickness is difficult, but it shares commonalities with human depth, substance, and character. Because thickness is difficult to utilize, it may end up being wasted, but its value increases the more a situation becomes a chaotic or long-term battle. The same is likely true for human depth.

By the way, the word "muda" (waste) originally meant that it was a shame to let a horse walk without carrying a load. On the other hand, the similar word "dame" originates from Go and has two contrasting meanings: "a point of no value to play" and "a stone's liberty (breathing point)." For example, "dame-zumari" refers to a state where stones with few liberties become unable to move. There are sayings like "a shortage of liberties is a shortage of life" and "a novice's game has no liberties."

In the first place, it is impossible to work without waste (the Second Law of Thermodynamics). On the other hand, a mathematician might wonder: if useless things are necessary, then they aren't actually useless, so isn't that a contradiction? My wife always lets my pedantic talk go in one ear and out the other, but I hope that this, too, is not a waste.

To return to the subject, since student days are the opening stage of a long life, it is best to study various things without fearing waste and accumulate thickness. You might think that giving such preachy talks to students will only make them resentful, but according to the logic I just explained, it shouldn't be a total waste.

And so, today as well, I gnaw on the "lead" of mathematics books, and while I feel as though nothing remains, I dream of becoming even a little bit wiser.