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Maryam Mirzakhani, first woman and Iranian to win Fields Medal, has died

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Re: Maryam Mirzakhani, first woman and Iranian to win Fields Medal, has died

#91

Post by rezashirazian »

0xFFC wrote: post #6

Iranian here, one point I really want to mention is following despite our theocratic regime, really I have to mention, Iran is not Suadi Arabia or anything like that. Girls and Boys do get the almost exactly same education, they have great opportunity to be a successful scholar in any branch of science they want (yes, It is like USA, your parent demographic will decide which university you most like end up into. But…

I don't think this is the time or place to post something like this, but I feel compelled to respond to it now that you've brought it up. I agree that Iran is a much more liberal society and that its young population is eons ahead of the Saudis. I also understand that it's frustrating to see it bundled in the media with cultures and ideologies that's is not representative of the country. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

"Girls and Boys do get the almost exactly same education, they have great opportunity to be a successful scholar in any branch of science they want", "yes, It is like USA" or "Paris of the middle east" is completely untrue.

Women are continuously harassed in university's for how they dress and many professors treat them with contempt. The notion that they get the same education or experience in college is simply not true.

And even after they graduate most job postings for roles beyond secretaries literally say "Women need not to apply"

Now I know Iran is much better than many other countries in the region and I know it's frustrating to see it represented unfairly in the media. But it's important to have a realistic perspective on the country and understand that it still has a LONG way to go. If what you're saying was true people like Maryam and thousands of other Sharif graduates wouldn't leave the country for European and American universities.

Re: Maryam Mirzakhani, first woman and Iranian to win Fields Medal, has died

#92

Post by awalton »

bhnmmhmd wrote: post #33

How is it that brilliant, genius people who truly help our world become a better place die young, while people who bring nothing but destruction and war, live for decades?

"Only the good die young" is a good sentiment to write a song around but reality and statistics don't back it up.

Re: Maryam Mirzakhani, first woman and Iranian to win Fields Medal, has died

#93

Post by Udik »

thinkfurther wrote: post #23
0xFFC wrote: post #6

Iranian here, one point I really want to mention is following despite our theocratic regime, really I have to mention, Iran is not Suadi Arabia or anything like that. Girls and Boys do get the almost exactly same education, they have great opportunity to be a successful scholar in any branch of science they want (yes, It is like USA, your parent demographic will decide which university you most like end up into. But…

How would you imagine an Iranian traffic jam? Picture it in your head. Now watch this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-RjSXqUpSM

> How would you imagine an Iranian traffic jam?

Like this: https://vimeo.com/9827433

Re: Maryam Mirzakhani, first woman and Iranian to win Fields Medal, has died

#94

Post by qq66 »

_delirium wrote: post #30
mrkgnao wrote: post #11

I hope to study (non-inter-universal) Teichmueller theory some day, as a side quest on my own journey (which is vaguely directed in some sense toward number theory at present). It's the best way I can think of to honor her memory: to learn to appreciate the ideas that she devoted her life to understanding better. Here is a picture of her drawing on one of her vast sheets of paper. https://news.artnet.com/app/news-upl…

Interesting, I don't think I've run into another mathematician who sketches on large sheets of paper like that (not that that means there aren't any). I do know some architects who like to work that way, and it used to be common in engineering (rarer in recent years), but mathematicians seem to always be depicted working either in notebooks, on the backs of napkins, or on whiteboards/blackboards.

Hm... I think a large sheet of paper on a drafting table, with a chair on a low-friction sliding rail, might be a really good way to organize large projects/concepts.

Re: Maryam Mirzakhani, first woman and Iranian to win Fields Medal, has died

#95

Post by davidf18 »

hexomancer wrote: post #61
davidf18 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was Israel that bombed the Iraqi nuclear reactor. If it had not, Iraq would have had nuclear weapons making action against Iraq very difficult. It is Israel that tests US weapons systems in real world combat situations giving a tremendous amount of feedback to improve the weapons systems. The Tom Cruise movie "Top Gun": It was Israel that stole the MIG fighter jet that enabled our government to understand the oper…

Are these supposed to make Israel sound good? Because to me, it sounds like Israel is doing the dirty, inhumane works for the US.

Can you please be specific? What is inhumane about preventing Iraq from acquiring nuclear weapons? Or inhumane about saving the lives of American fighter pilots (eg. Top Gun), or Israeli drones protecting the lives of NATO troops, or helping Indians protect itself from attacks from Pakistan?

For example, the Prime Minister visited Israel in July had Israel has a lot of support from the people of India.

Re: Maryam Mirzakhani, first woman and Iranian to win Fields Medal, has died

#96

Post by DanBC »

davidf18 wrote: post #95
hexomancer wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are these supposed to make Israel sound good? Because to me, it sounds like Israel is doing the dirty, inhumane works for the US.

Can you please be specific? What is inhumane about preventing Iraq from acquiring nuclear weapons? Or inhumane about saving the lives of American fighter pilots (eg. Top Gun), or Israeli drones protecting the lives of NATO troops, or helping Indians protect itself from attacks from Pakistan? For example, the Prime Minister visited Israel in July had Israel has a lot of support from the people of India.

Please stop.

Re: Maryam Mirzakhani, first woman and Iranian to win Fields Medal, has died

#97

Post by davidf18 »

danso wrote: post #60
davidf18 wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

9/11 was a terrorist act. Iran is supporting Hamas and Hezbollah which are terrorist organization (US, EU, as well as Israel). Terrorism is terrorism. When Iran supports terrorism it supports terrorism. The only way to denounce terrorism is to universally denounce terrorism. Otherwise you are just supporting terrorism. Do you understand this?

Boy I hope you never get in a position of power where you also have access to history books. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Cyclone

Perhaps you enjoy movies with Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts? If so, you might enjoy the movie (and there is a book on which it is based) "Charlie Wilson's War" which is Operation Cyclone. [1]

It is very, very entertaining and based on fact. The Soviets were using armored helicopter gunships to slaughter Afghan citizens.

Congressman Charlie Wilson worked with the CIA, and with Israel, Egypt, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia to supply arms to the Afghans so that they could defeat the Soviet invaders. This was the beginning of the end of the Soviet Union.

The arms used had to "look" as if they were Soviet weapons that were captured. To use American weapons would start a real war. Israel has the largest cache of Soviet weapons outside of the Soviet block. This they acquired from 1967 and 1973 Wars with Egypt, Syria, and Jordan.

So, again, the US and Israel are the good guys defeating the Soviets.

[1]. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Wilson%27s_War_(film)#...

Re: Maryam Mirzakhani, first woman and Iranian to win Fields Medal, has died

#98

Post by dang »

nkoren wrote: post #75
dang wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These rules: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html . Especially the rules regarding civility, politics, and intellectual curiosity, which are the most important ones. Nationalistic flamewar—which you started—is the essence of all that we don't want here, regardless of how well-intentioned you are. Life-and-death questions of national identity are far stronger and more important than the things that gratify…

I'm very disturbed by your comments. 0xFFC has not been uncivil, nationalistic, or even particularly political. He was merely pointing out that Maryam was representative of a society that is more diverse and tolerant than many people imagine -- an issue that she herself cared about and occasionally addressed. That is fair and on-topic social statement; his only nod to politics was the words "despite our theocratic re…

> And yet you slap him down and not davidf18, whose response is, in fact

On the contrary I scolded that user not once but twice, and more harshly, in accordance with the comments themselves.

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14776948

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14776963

(and later banned him: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14778558)

Even if I hadn't, though, it's entirely bogus to conclude that moderation responding to one commenter means implicitly endorsing an opposing commenter.

Re: Maryam Mirzakhani, first woman and Iranian to win Fields Medal, has died

#100

Post by dang »

davidf18 wrote: post #95
hexomancer wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are these supposed to make Israel sound good? Because to me, it sounds like Israel is doing the dirty, inhumane works for the US.

Can you please be specific? What is inhumane about preventing Iraq from acquiring nuclear weapons? Or inhumane about saving the lives of American fighter pilots (eg. Top Gun), or Israeli drones protecting the lives of NATO troops, or helping Indians protect itself from attacks from Pakistan? For example, the Prime Minister visited Israel in July had Israel has a lot of support from the people of India.

Since you haven't stopped despite repeated requests, I've banned this account until we get a guarantee that it won't do political flamewars again.

I suppose I need to add that this isn't any kind of position on Israel, Iran, the U.S., terrorism, 9/11, bombs, or wars. It's just a position about what sort of threads aren't ok on Hacker News. One could flip all the political bits in your comments and its status for HN purposes would be just the same.

My colleagues and I have a lot of empathy for the feelings of loyalty and love that drive a person to fight these battles. The feelings are important and the issues are important—much more important than Hacker News. Nevertheless the moderation job here is to protect HN as (1) a community and (2) a web forum dedicated to what gratifies intellectual curiosity. Nothing threatens that more than political battle, so we have to be proactive about this.

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