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Maryam Mirzakhani’s Pioneering Mathematical Legacy

newyorker.com

11–20 of 35 posts

Re: Maryam Mirzakhani’s Pioneering Mathematical Legacy

#13

Still bothers me that we didn't get a black bar. Can someone explain what the criterion is?

It's arbitrary, based on the preferences and biases of the YC cognoscenti. Hence the perfect correspondence between representation of women and minorities in black bars, and YC-funded founders.

Re: Maryam Mirzakhani’s Pioneering Mathematical Legacy

#14

Still bothers me that we didn't get a black bar. Can someone explain what the criterion is?

I've seen this sentiment posted before with no answer...I find that even more frustrating.

Yeah. I'm more or less convinced sparky_z has the correct answer, see above.

Re: Maryam Mirzakhani’s Pioneering Mathematical Legacy

#15
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stories and threads on HN are, for the most part, a sort of community property. The bar at the top of HN is not: it belongs to the operators of HN. Litigating how and when they use it to express grief is not an especially polite thing to do. The easiest way, then, to understand the "black bar" is to think of it as an expression of sorrow that has a direct connection to HN's operators.

If it was a private thing I would be totally with you, but the black bar's entire purpose is to send a public message to the community. It seems natural for the public reading the message to wonder why it was sent (or omitted) on a given occasion. It's not "why aren't you grieving?" but rather "what message are you trying to send us through displaying or omitting it?"

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Re: Maryam Mirzakhani’s Pioneering Mathematical Legacy

#16

Still bothers me that we didn't get a black bar. Can someone explain what the criterion is?

I'm starting to think this black bar was a bad idea. All it gives is fruitless discussions like this one on the merit of a person to be awarded the black bar upon their death, like if it was a trophy or a medal of accomplishment.

I think the first implementation of the black bar was for Steve Jobs. Well, I'm not a fan of Steve Jobs, and I think that individuals like Maryam Mirzakhani are far more important in the course of humanity than Steve Jobs ever was. But I don't question the decision to put the black bar for Jobs: it corresponded to an emotion, felt by a lot of people here and more importantly by the owners of HN. It was their way to express their emotion, other people wrote blog posts, tweets or Facebook status. But it was all a question of emotion, and the merit of the person was secondary. The black bar is like the black clothes of people at burials or the black veil of the widow: it's there to express sorrow, not to mark how much the person was a great scientist or entrepreneur. And who are we to judge emotions or impose them to other?

I don't think there should be a specific criterion. Putting on the black bar now when it was not done spontaneously is like faking a deep sorrow that do not exist.

Re: Maryam Mirzakhani’s Pioneering Mathematical Legacy

#17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've seen this sentiment posted before with no answer...I find that even more frustrating.

Yeah. I'm more or less convinced sparky_z has the correct answer, see above.

if that's the case, it should definitely widen to mathematicians, considering there is a math article posted at least once a day.

Re: Maryam Mirzakhani’s Pioneering Mathematical Legacy

#18
post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stories and threads on HN are, for the most part, a sort of community property. The bar at the top of HN is not: it belongs to the operators of HN. Litigating how and when they use it to express grief is not an especially polite thing to do. The easiest way, then, to understand the "black bar" is to think of it as an expression of sorrow that has a direct connection to HN's operators.

If it was a private thing I would be totally with you, but the black bar's entire purpose is to send a public message to the community. It seems natural for the public reading the message to wonder why it was sent (or omitted) on a given occasion. It's not "why aren't you grieving?" but rather "what message are you trying to send us through displaying or omitting it?"

The public message is that "someone who has had a profound impact on YC, or HN and its members has passed away". That impact is up to the operators to decide.

Much the same way a family remembers their loved ones, but doesn't grieve every important person who has passed away irrespective of their stature. Like parent was saying, it's a little discomfiting to see this discussed on threads.

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