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Monumental (if correct) advance in number theory posted to ArXiv by Yitang Zhang

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Re: Monumental (if correct) advance in number theory posted to ArXiv by Yitang Zhang

#411

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good luck finding a movie about Isaac Newton or Einstein, or literally anyone whose value to the world is more than pretending to be someone else or lying a lot, let alone a very interesting mathematician no one recognizes. (Ok I know there’s a few movies about folks like Turing and Nash, but it’s pretty slim pickings).

This whole theme is sort incompatible with movies. Most people like to relate to the characters in the plot. The "genius guy" does something we can't understand has very little appeal as a story. Same thing goes for mathematics that is too "deep". Most people could not care less about prime numbers. Yes, they drive important cryptographic procedures. But we care about cryptography. We care that the message gets to it…

See I disagree. They tend to live very interesting lives, not because of their achievement, but I suspect their achievements and how interesting their life is is inextricably intertwined. They tend to not fit in convention very well and live at odds with society in a not too dissimilar way to say a Bob Dylan or Jim Morrison, but without the music and poetry. You’re right of course that folks like to watch movies about people they are aware of and understand their contribution. But I’d also point out that society overall is a lot better educated than in the past, more people than ever would find scientists and mathematicians and engineers easier to identify with and would understand their contribution than ever before - and those people also control an incredible amount of the available disposable income.

I think the real issue is the producers and directors and business folks in the film industry are not in that camp. They’re more likely to make a biography of Robin Williams than Paul Dirac, and they decide what gets made.

Re: Monumental (if correct) advance in number theory posted to ArXiv by Yitang Zhang

#412

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good luck finding a movie about Isaac Newton or Einstein, or literally anyone whose value to the world is more than pretending to be someone else or lying a lot, let alone a very interesting mathematician no one recognizes. (Ok I know there’s a few movies about folks like Turing and Nash, but it’s pretty slim pickings).

Einstein is probably a terrible example here because in his day he was regarded as a pop culture icon so there’s plenty about him in film [1]. That’s not even considering that he’s had plenty of excellent biographies written about him. Agora with Rachel Weisz is an excellent one about Hypatia. Could we do better as a society? Maybe. To do that though you’d have to bring these stories into film classrooms and get stud…

Newton as a human being was insanely interesting. Einstein as well. I would pick Hooke and Newtons relationship before Leibniz, fwiw.

Re: Monumental (if correct) advance in number theory posted to ArXiv by Yitang Zhang

#413

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good luck finding a movie about Isaac Newton or Einstein, or literally anyone whose value to the world is more than pretending to be someone else or lying a lot, let alone a very interesting mathematician no one recognizes. (Ok I know there’s a few movies about folks like Turing and Nash, but it’s pretty slim pickings).

I can recommend „The Strangest Man: The Hidden Life of Paul Dirac“.

It’s only in book form, no?

There are tons of excellent books on mathematicians, engineers, and scientists. Just virtually no visual media.

Re: Monumental (if correct) advance in number theory posted to ArXiv by Yitang Zhang

#414

Regarding Zhang's age: Most Fields medalists these days are very close to exceeding 40 years. Wiles himself just a special silver medal, because of that - which I think is outrageous age discrimination. Mind you he didn't get the silver medal because his results were a bit less spectacular than those of the winners, but rather they were so groundbreaking he couldn't be ignored, but because he was just over 40 they ha…

> Most Fields medalists these days are very close to exceeding 40 years

They are usually spotted at a much younger age, and they get the medal when they are almost 40 because after that it will be too late. I.e. if there are several deserving mathematicians you give the medal to the one where the clock is about to run out, since the others will have more shots at it.

Re: Monumental (if correct) advance in number theory posted to ArXiv by Yitang Zhang

#415
post #402

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think the French Revolution happened in a vacuum? Without the ideals of Enlightenment philosophy it would have amounted to nothing more than mob violence (if it had even gotten started at all).

Good point, I agree that it did not. Were those ideas however progress, or a tool that the Committee of Public Safety used because it fit their agenda? Was this philosophy finding truth that guided policy, or was it making up rhetorical arguments in a power struggle on behalf of the rising middle class and its policy? In absence of criteria of non empirical truth that are independent of the very non empirical truths…

Well, the original point was whether philosophy had any influence on world events, not whether that influence was good or not.

To me, the idea that ideas don't play a major role in world history and politics seems odd. There's nothing more fundamentally human than trying to understand the world around you and wanting to shape it in a certain way. Of course material conditions are important; the French Revolution wouldn't have happened had the state not gone bankrupt. But it also wouldn't have happened in that way without Enlightenment ideas. Very basic principles of the revolution, some of which were kept by Napoleon and in subsequent generations and still live on today were formulated by those enlightenment thinkers. Just consider the declaration of human rights.

Re: Monumental (if correct) advance in number theory posted to ArXiv by Yitang Zhang

#416

Brings to mind Gould's quote - "I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein’s brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops." https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/99345-i-am-somehow-less-int...

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Re: Monumental (if correct) advance in number theory posted to ArXiv by Yitang Zhang

#417

The “lack of progress” in philosophy comes down to this. By the time of Socrates or Confucius, there had already been a lifetime’s worth of philosophical thought done that you needed to grapple with. Everyone since then has necessarily had to let something slip through in order to move forward at all.

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Re: Monumental (if correct) advance in number theory posted to ArXiv by Yitang Zhang

#418
post #78

Math used to be a young person game, but it now requires so much knowledge just to get to the frontiers of human knowledge, not to speak of making a dent into uncharted territory, that results are being obtained later and later in life. When mathematicians have had time to accrue sufficient knowledge while still being sharp enough to make the intellectual leap. The sad part is that as the trend continues we may reach…

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