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Mohit (Jul 09 2020 at 12:09):Hi all, I cant recall the exact source for this - but I read an interview of Saunders Mac Lane, where he expresses surprise and doubt about category theory's use in computer science. Do you think this is just a case of the original inventor not being able to predict the use of his invention / theory in the future, or is there a deeper idea here?
Fabrizio Genovese (Jul 09 2020 at 12:16):There are folklore stories about MacLane's reactions to Abramsky pioneeristic work on CT applied to CompSci. Probably other people that were there back then can tell you more about this.
Mohit (Jul 09 2020 at 12:29):Found the reference - Mac Lane, S. Are we all just specialists?. The Mathematical Intelligencer 8, 74–75 (1986). "There are even some people who claim that category theory will be useful in computer science, though I have not yet been convinced of this particular contention."
Jules Hedges (Jul 09 2020 at 12:35):Wow.... I can imagine maybe having this opinion 10 years earlier, but by 1986 this was just flat out wrong
Jules Hedges (Jul 09 2020 at 12:36):The earliest of the "some people" was probably Eilenberg
Martti Karvonen (Jul 10 2020 at 17:37):Jules Hedges said:
Wow.... I can imagine maybe having this opinion 10 years earlier, but by 1986 this was just flat out wrong
I'm sure there's still plenty of computer scientists who are skeptical of CT in TCS.