I think it's really important to apply category theory to subjects outside mathematics, and to subjects that don't primarily benefit big tech companies. So I've decided to knuckle down and try.
I'm working with Nate Osgood (who does epidemiological modeling at the computer science of the University of Saskatchewan) and Patricia Mabry (at Health Partners Institute, a medical research institute in Minnesota) to apply for a grant on incorporating human behavior in epidemiological models.
Our hope is to use AlgebraicJulia's category-based system to develop new software for agent-based models and use these to apply the National Institute of Health's new theories about behavior change to model tobacco addiction.
Both Nate and Patricia have written about tobacco addiction. Nate is an expert on agent-based models and Patricia is an expert on human behavior in health. I'm the math guy in the team, trying to sort out the foundations of agent-based models, to make them more flexible and transparent. And we'll try to pay some people at the Topos Institute (along with Nate's students) to help develop the math and write software.
This is really different than working on pure math or mathematical physics, where I could often get the job done by myself or with just one grad student! It's a project that requires a team of people who know different things. I don't think I could have enjoyed this earlier, but for some reason I do now.
