What's the point in being a groundbreaking Mathematician when you have this opinion of yourself:
""'I'm not interested in money or fame,' he is quoted to have said at the time. 'I don't want to be on display like an animal in a zoo. I'm not a hero of mathematics. I'm not even that successful; that is why I don't want to have everybody looking at me.'"
like what the fuck? He's pretty much one of the best mathematicians on the planet, and yet he thinks this of himself?
He's so smart he trancended ego and fame
He wants to sound humble. He's probably drowning in pussy and money as we speak.
checked
why does this bother you?
I think you have a very western point of view.
A lot of motivation in western countries come from potential for money, potential for fame, potential for recognition.
I think Perelman was genuinely curious and solved a problem because he wanted to know the answer, not because he wanted the money that came with it.
Have you ever been taking a shit and exploring the Collatz conjecture at the same time for fun? Then you should know the feeling.
Because he's fucking lying. If he didn't want to be famous and truly was some ultra autist just interested in math after solving it he would have said "gee that's interesting" then he would have thrown away the paper with proof on it. Did he do this? No. He published it with his name on it. To get credit for it. Something he knew would result in fame.
maybe his goal is the betterment of humanity or something like that instead of vain prizes?
So why not publish anonymously?
there's a difference between 'having everyone look at you' as he says and just getting credit
life is about the journey, not the destination
So he is a superhero of mathematics, he just isnt good at being clark kent.
Publish a 200-page proof of something like the Poincare conjecture anonymously and no-one will take it seriously. Especially given how much work was necessary to work through it.
Took four years to confirm it, and that was with his travelling around giving lectures on his paper.
He cares about math, and nothing else.
to answer questions.
He turned down a million dollars you stupid nigger.
Exactly. Math journals peer review the shit out of your paper. This isn't social sciences. If you submit an anonymous 200 page document, they'll just throw it out.
Because he recognizes that what mathematicians do is largely irrelevant outside of ivory castle building
>All of the world's super-smart mathematicians still haven't managed to create a good mathematical model of consciousness
What people say is not always what they think.
Take me for example
I have a very egotistical and somewhat narcissistic thought process. In order to keep these thoughts in check and to avoid coming off as an asshole I constantly berate myself in my head and in front of others. This way I can trick myself and the public into believing I'm not just some douche bag who thinks he is better than everyone for no good reason.
That's somewhat rediculous though, it imploes they believe anything good can only come from within the establishment.
What's ridiculous is expecting anyone to read your 200 page paper when the world is flooded with quacks and their 200 page papers. The reason they believe anything good can only come from within the establishment is because that is a statistical fact.
I understand Perelman has made large contributions of the field of Mathematics, however ricci flow and the Poincare conjecture have absolutely zero practical applications whatsoever.
He likes his privacy. Walk in his shoes first. Then judge again.
>absolutely zero practical applications
>this meme needs to die
lol no. He lives with his mother in a Russian tenement.
as a mathematician, it becomes very clear how little you know.
Maybe he can't be arsed with media attention
I can't explain his money-dodging though.
He explained his money-dodging. It comes down to that he's the most principled man around. You can question his principles, but you can't question how principled he is.
>On 1 July 2010, he turned down the prize of one million dollars, saying that he considered the award unfair and that his contribution to solving the Poincaré conjecture was no greater than that of Richard Hamilton, the mathematician who pioneered Ricci flow with the aim of attacking the conjecture. He also turned down the prestigious prize of the European Mathematical Society.
I wasn't aware that his mother doesn't have a pussy. There must be some magic reason why he can't be fucking her 6 times a day right?
Citation needed. I thought this was a meme.
Not everything is a meme, theguardian.com
he's ugly af what do you expect?
I'd love to see your money maker.
>maths
>drowning in pussy
Try engineering
Engineering is in general almost completely devoid of Chads
That's drowning in dicks. He's straight.
That's just a meme. Majority of engineers are chads (hence why they picked the most alpha STEM degree), I would know I am one.
...
Fake and gay. The majority of engineers are tall skinny nerds who do have self confidence but are decidedly not Chad.
It is a somewhat eccentric view of fame and of how mathematicians are viewed in general. I think "animal at a zoo" is a false analogy for what happens when a mathematician acquires fame or money.
Well, you would have to corroborate your view that motivation stemming from want of money, fame, or recognition is specifically "western".
I also fail to see how Perelman's "genuine-ness" in pursuing mathematics problems has any bearing on the issue being discussed. If anything, it is all the more odd that he became concerned with how people viewed him if he really was in it just for the curiosity.
Perelman is evidently concerned in some way with how people view him and it clearly affected his desire to conduct research. The conditions of "money" and "fame" are not eliminated, but are rather switched with the conditions of "no money" and "no fame". My conclusion is that Perelman is as image-obsessed as many others are, but desired opposite outcomes of what people usually desire. One can only speculate as to why, but this fact still remains. He seems to have a moral problem with it, just as many others have the opposite moral viewpoint, namely that one must be compensated with money and recognition for such difficult accomplishments.
It does NOT, however, seem that his viewpoints towards mathematics are affected only by curiosity. If it was, then fame or money would be viewed with complete neutrality, not with contempt. Perelman also states why he views the fame with contempt, stating that his contribution to the solution of the problem of the Poincare conjecture was no greater than Richard Hamilton's. He may have a good point about this, and about proofs of long and multifaceted theorems in general.
>He's pretty much one of the best mathematicians on the planet, and yet he thinks this of himself?
He didn't do most of the work though. He wrote the final paper, and therefore gets overrated like crazy by people like you who don't know the field.
Not to say he didn't do cool stuff, but I think the idea that he's one of the best mathematicians just for finishing off a program that relied on a lot of progress by a lot of people would be just what he's trying to say he doesn't deserve.
Probably because that's not what mathematicians do you fucking mong.
>hurr why haven't engineers solved quantum gravity? morons
No. Engineers are awkward fucks that try to act like Chads when they aren't. You can get the delusion of them being Chads at school, but you will quickly realize they are awkward fucks when you go back to living around normal people.
If someone doesn't have the decency to put their name on a 200 page technical manuscript, you have every right to throw it out.
you are impressively stupid
OP, you need to read more philosophers for better understanding the life.
Right now you are sounds like a chimp driven by his instincts. That's who you are. That's why you shitposting on Veeky Forums while this guy Perelman solve the complex problem.
shitty tabloids aren't a source
you want a scientific study that says he lives in his mom's basement?
if you don't want to believe it, go ask him yourself you dumbfuck.
so you don't have a source then
watched a documentary of him in Russian, they said he lives with his mom
it's pretty common in Russia to live within a room that has been passed down from other generations
Because he is a true scientist. He does not want to spend all day in the crappy media. It has nothing to do with fame and money or women.
Our media civilization sucks.
It's his humility that made him the amazing mathematician he became
hilarious coming from a namefag on Veeky Forums
What's with this influx of namefags lately?
Welp, another one to add to the filter.
Or maybe he wanted to share his results because that's what science is mostly for?
>turned down a million dollars
>didn't accept any university position in mathematics with his fame
>doesn't make a shit ton in speaking fees like most famous scientists
...
Turning down free money is pure lunacy. You could still continue the exact same lifestyle as before, only without having to worry too much about illness or other disasters.
At the same time, turning it down only reinforces his fame. Few people can name even one Fields medalist, but Perelman is widely known precisely because of his dumb "humility".
"I am not interested in money or fame"? Well, looks like you can't avoid both when you do extraordinary things. What remains in the end is a stupid decision.
called summer
If you want practical applications go into business
fuck you, you're just a money fixated asshole. obviously you're just in science for the cash. if at all.
>muh money
some people have something called principles. it was never about humility
...
I'm quite new to more advanced math and i just found a few hints of passion inside of me for it so bare with me here.
How does one get famous by being a mathemagicion ?
Does he invent new ways to think and do math ?
I'm with this guy. There's no way taking the money can be a bad thing. In fact, you could argue that NOT taking the money is bad because he could be raising his standard of living to make his mathematical work easier.
Wealth changes you inevitably. I wouldn't mind to be changed, but I can understand how one might not like the idea. He may believe that his work is meaningless or not possible without a personal struggle. I believe many geniusses (is that the word?) have been born out of an immense struggle, and not an easy life.
No thanks I'm straight
>Poincare conjecture have absolutely zero practical applications whatsoever
Because shape of the god-freaking-damn Universe is something so trivial that it is not even worth considering, right?
The Guardian isn't a tabloid you dumbfuck.
it is.
huffington-post / buzzfeed tier.
Not him, but you're a fucking idiot. The Guardian was the newspaper that helped Snowden publicise his leaks and is one of the most respected papers around. You think tabloids do that? How about you start judging stuff for yourself instead of gulping down whatever nonsense /pol/ feeds you?
>He published it with his name on it. To get credit for it. Something he knew would result in fame.
He didn't, he as you said, he wrote it on a piece of paper and threw it away basically, his friend found it and published it in his name.
> he wrote it on a piece of paper and threw it away basically, his friend found it and published it in his name.
What the fuck? Does his friend go rummaging through his trash on the off chance that he's solved a millenial problem and thrown away the proof?
go back to /gif/ faggot
But I am judging stuff myself.
Everytime I read an article from The Almighty Guardian, I feel a woman shoving her feminism down my throat, or some sentionalistic bullshit.
That's based on my own experience. I have never heard anyone else say this besides me.
This is my own opinion, deal with it.
Make me.
>implying I was wrong
he's just being humble
i honestly share his opinion,
it's the opinion of every decent thinking person,
fame and fortune is literally pointless, pretty much a meme set up by celebrities
what do i gain from people recognizing me on the street?
What do i gain from having a house that can house 20 families?
Any good scientist will never do anything for fame and fortune,
simply because those are really dumb and pointless life goals.
here is your answer:
I watched a few russian documentaries about him and read russian articles. Shortly after his publication of proof there was a group surrounding a Chinese professor claiming a similar proof for himself, in there he attributed Hamilton and himself with a majority % of the proof, and Perelman only with a minority. What destroyed Perelman the most is not only this outrageous claim but also that it was widely featured in the press (I think Time magazine) and that other mathematicians including Russians failed to decisively position themselves behind Perelman in this scandal.
you have to see the bigger picture here: Perelman is a pure product of the "old" soviet elite mathematical school, he was taken in young and got to work alongside many geniuses in st petersburg. In their line of thought, mathematics is studied as something pure, elegant and incorruptible. That is why he continues to be so upset behind the whole shit that went on after publication. In his eyes, the world of mathematics got corrupted, it used to be above all the pursuit of money of society, above any power-grabs or scandals like the attention grab of the Chinese. it used to be that any disputed could be settled clearly and definitely by the sheer logic and nature of mathematics. Now, there was this whole shitstorm. This is the reason he completely turned away from mathematics and wants to live the rest of his life only with his mother and close friends in a conflict and harassment-free zone of comfort.
you can call him an autist, but he really did this only out of pure fascination for the beauty of mathematics, not even once did he think about fame or money during the 8 years he spent locked away in his apartment working on it. Not everyone thinks about fame and money, hejust simply walked away from all the shit that modern society has become - get over it.
\THREAD
I am quite humble however,
recognition or fame is what I actually would like or in other words something I want but not necessarily something I would strive for. If somebody got credit for my work I would get pissed, if it means that I have to live in a shoebox to defend my fame I would do it.
>if you dont have the same opinions as me youre not thinking for yourself
you and your shitty tabloid can fuck off
People seem to forget this... Perelman is a bit eccentric, but come on, he's not that weird.
That's nothing special.
You're just being an adult who doesn't want to look like a autistic social failure.
Grats on at least marginally being a decent human being.
I still hate you and wish your family dies of the plague.
Jesus Fuck, people are stupid. His life style is already carved in a stone. This is not something that you can change as your pants, for example.
He don't want famous and money because it's a heavy burden for him.
Typical Russian, trying to be edgy, but Russians are 100 years behind the nuance of modern culture and philosophy
>modern culture and philosophy
This goy makes sense
>being a mathematician
>wanting money or fame
Choose exactly one.
>That's nothing special.
yeah, that's sort of the whole point of my post.
you're awfully riled up
engineers don't know math
This.
By the way, the Chinese researcher you mentioned is none other than Shing Tung Yau, as in Calabi-Yau manifold.
Hamilton had made a lot of progress and had a program for finding a solution (he had also previously worked with Yau for years). Perelman had some ideas and was building on Hamilton's published research. He also attended a workshop by Hamilton on his program where he spoke with Hamilton and found out more about Hamilton's research that wasn't yet published.
Afterwards Perelman made a breakthrough based on Hamilton's work and submitted a solution for publication. Three teams were put in charge of evaluating Perelman's solution. One of these teams was composed of Yau and his research students.
Yau's team wrote their own version of Perelman's proof that didn't really add anything new and contained some uncited work by other authors. Depending on what you read some will claim that Yau's team tried to steal the credit from Hamilton and Perelman.
The Clay institute still acknowledged Perelman as the person deserving the credit and tried to give him the one million dollar prize. He refused it saying that his contribution was no larger than Hamilton's.
Meanwhile Perelman was pissed about two things.
1) The paper by Yau's team looked like an unethical grab for attention.
2) The Clay institute didn't give credit to Hamilton despite Hamilton having done a very significant portion of the work towards a solution.
Perelman then did an interview for a New Yorker article titled Manifold Destiny.
en.wikipedia.org
Prior to this Perelman had already quit mathematics but the reason why wasn't well known outside of academic circles. After the article was published shit hit the fan, so to speak.
Yau tried suing the New Yorker but they refused to take down the article. Later Hamilton and another mathematician were awarded the million dollar Shaw prize (50/50 split).
You know why he's so good at maths? Because he doesn't care about anything else. Money and fame are a burden first and foremost considering all the time managing money or giving interviews or whatever could instead be spent doing maths.
>like what the fuck? He's pretty much one of the best mathematicians on the planet, and yet he thinks this of himself?
extremely intelligent people are very often extremely unsocial, to the point of being excessively introverted. At least 95% of the time, ALL that they think about is their work
>Because he is a true scientist. He does not want to spend all day in the crappy media. It has nothing to do with fame and money or women.
a lot of elite mathematicians end up really disappointed that their (life's) work ends up being so abstract that it has no immediate practical application
Those of you who blindly aspire to this level of intellectualism have obviously never been around those who are at it (or close to it)
Note #1: I am not at such a mental level, or close to it.
Note #2: I've never met Perelman, or heard any first-hand accounts of him.
>a lot of elite mathematicians end up really disappointed that their (life's) work ends up being so abstract that it has no immediate practical application
Some of us aren't worried about seeing immediate practical application; you're very mistaken if you think this is what motivates the mathematician. We do know that it's not unlikely that somewhere down the road someone much brighter will find a good use for it, and that's great, but it isn't the impetus behind producing new mathematics. Besides, it can't find practical applications until somebody creates it, right?
>Some of us aren't worried about seeing immediate practical application; you're very mistaken if you think this is what motivates the mathematician.
Do it for most of your life, and then get back to me on that.
Even if you wind up getting enough money for material needs, it's still very isolating socially, and a big part of that issue is because it's abstract.
I bet euler, fibonacci and other elite mathematician died without seeing any practical application of some of their work.
But I get your point, let's take Andrew Wiles and his 200 page proof on something we already took as true. The work will never have any practical application except that we can continue using fermat's last theorem in further research. 7 years of hard work just for that is amazing.
t. engineer
>modularity theorem
>no applications
are you dense?
his methods of proof using galois representations has already been generalized arithmetically to larger fields than just the rationals and generalized geometrically to certain calabi-yau varieties. it's only a matter of time before an understanding/physical interpretation of modularity and automorphy further catapults research in string theory
You need to understand that the proof itself is not the end goal. We developed many other incredibly powerful tools trying to solve FLT, and math wouldn't be the same without it.
He grew up in the USSR being constantly injected with Soviet propaganda.
You're missing his point because you're looking at the quote out of context, where he was complaining about widespread corruption.
He doesn't want to play politics, and he realizes that if he's a well-known, active mathematician who doesn't want to play politics, he'll be constantly used by those who do.
very interesting, thank you. I wasn't aware of the full details vehind it all.
He's been living in Israel for quite some time now
notablebiographies.com
