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"He hasn't produced good work before, so there's a good chance it won't be worth my time to read his proof" is an imperfect way of allocating limited resources,
by bmm6o 17y ago
"He hasn't produced good work before, so there's a good chance it won't be worth my time to read his proof" is an imperfect way of allocating limited resources, not an ad hominem attack.
- amichail 17y agoAn ad hominem attack is a way of saving resources. Theoreticians use it to save time and effort.
- bmm6o 17y ago> An ad hominem attack is a way of saving resources That they are both ways of saving resources does not mean they are the same in any other way (e.g. both "wrong"). Choosing not to read your proof is not the same as declaring that the proof must be flawed because you wrote it. You seem to have a particular instance of this behavior in mind. Not being familiar with it, I can only argue the general case. I'm sure your proof is actually quite good!