Geek Humor in Honor of Pi Day

I just got back from leading a two week retreat for MAVN at this great venue. The retreat spanned March 14th – a date near and dear to every true geek – Pi Day! In honor of the occasion, I gave a dharma talk on Euler’s identity. It was an expansion of the ideas you’ll find on pp. 151-160 of the Five Ways manual.

After the talk, one of the participants, who’s a programmer, came up and suggested a cute mathematical pun. I noodled it a bit, making some modifications and extending the metaphor. Anyway, here’s what I came up with:

 

For several centuries now, mathematicians have realized the following truth.

This immediately suggests two interpretations. The first is practical and related to conditional happiness. The second is deep and related to unconditional happiness.

The first interpretation:

“Negative shit has complex roots.”

The second interpretation:

“When you get to the root, negative shit is not real.”