4 ms·

From the limited amount I've read about this, he seems to believe that academic mathematics is corrupt and unethical. Basically, he objects to the whole machine

From the limited amount I've read about this, he seems to believe that academic mathematics is corrupt and unethical. Basically, he objects to the whole machinery that would award him this prize.

Jun8 16y ago
That and he feels slighted by other researchers, especially Shing-Tung Yau. Edit: If you're interested about Yau, here's a NYT article (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/17/science/17yau.html?_r=1 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/17/science/17yau.html?_r=1) "But even his admirers say he has a political side. “As Shiing-Shen Chern’s successor as emperor of Chinese mathematics,” Deane Yang, a professor of mathematics at Polytechnic University in Brooklyn and an old family friend, wrote in a letter to The New Yorker, “Yau has an outsized ego and great ambition, and has done things that dismay his peers.” But, Dr. Yang said, Dr. Yau has been a major force for good in mathematics and in China, a prodigious teacher who has trained 39 Ph.D.’s."
- abstractbill 16y ago
  In my experience the best revenge is usually to live a happy life. If it was me, I'd use the $1M to do that. Even assuming he's completely non-materialistic, I find it hard to imagine there's nothing Perelman could spend the money on that would make him even a little happier.
  - mwerty 16y ago
    Taking it would likely change him in undesirable ways for a net negative effect on happiness.
  - motters 16y ago
    To a mathematician, some things are far more important than mere money. Accepting tribute money from an organisation you believed to be fundamentally corrupt would be to become one of the very people you despise.
    - abstractbill 16y ago
      To a mathematician, some things are far more important than mere money. I know, my PhD is in pure mathematics - I've seen up-close that mathematicians can be an odd bunch ;) Using the money to fund some kind of an alternative to the organisation he believes is corrupt, surely wouldn't make him corrupt though, just to take one example?
      - kqr2 16y ago
        In some ways, he's "spending" his million dollars to make a public statement about his view of the organization. Had he just accepted the prize, there would probably be little mention of it in the main stream media.
        abstractbill 16y ago
        That's very true - good point. I wonder what it would actually cost to make this much of a public statement if he spent the money directly that way - maybe it is comparable.
        Groxx 16y ago
        Oh, probably more. How much does human interest cost? This has captured quite a few people's attention, especially considering it's catching people not in mathematics.
        abstractbill 16y ago
        How much does human interest cost? I couldn't resist thinking about this a bit more. Something comparable would be firefox's double-page New York Times ad, which apparently cost about $200k (http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/asa/archives/007103.html http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/asa/archives/007103.html) and certainly reached a lot of non-mathematicians. Even though Perelman's action has generated quite a bit of press attention, my gut feeling is he could have paid for even more attention if he chose to use the prize money to raise awareness directly. That said, if he really wanted to get maximum exposure, he could continue to ignore the prize for almost a year, but accept it at the last minute and then spend it all on ads telling the world how corrupt academic mathematics is ;)
  - danielnicollet 16y ago
    It's not about whether spending the money on something would make him happier or not. It's about whether taking the money would commit him to a social group, or structure, or organization he disagrees with. Or maybe he just has other things he wants to be doing that don't require that money. For me that's called being consistent as a man and it's the type of choice that separates men from peons. So, let's not put a man on trial for refusing a gift. What's wrong with that? It didn't harm anybody I think... Go Grigory Perelman!
  - gruseom 16y ago
    Even assuming he's completely non-materialistic, I find it hard to imagine there's nothing Perelman could spend the money on that would make him even a little happier What you're saying makes perfect sense in the context of our (modern Western) attitude to money, but Perelman has always struck me as a throwback to an older conception of these things. He might well regard money -- or at least money obtained in this way -- as intrinsically incompatible with pure intellectual life. If accepting the money would entail losing something that he values more, his refusal is not so strange. It's also the case that Russian intellectuals are -- or at least used to be -- biased more in this direction than Western ones. Which reminds me of one of the greatest and funniest things ever said on the subject, Saltykov-Shchedrin on the difference between Russia and the West: "A Westerner sells his soul to the devil; a Russian just gives his soul to the devil."
baddox 16y ago
So basically, he objects to the discipline of mathematics itself. The field is inherently social, because without a sharing of ideas, and in some cases without direct collaboration, progress isn't possible. That said, I have no problem with his choice, but it would be nice if he would at least release a good explanation of what he feels is wrong with "the establishment." I suspect he would be able to discover more mathematical truth if he would at least be somewhat in touch with the mathematics community.
- agravier 16y ago
  The "sharing" that goes on in most scientific fields is not of the friendly kind. The race for publications (-> money, fame) is the root cause. Ethical values are a facade.
gaius 16y ago
Contrast RMS who had no qualms whatsoever about accepting $1M from the MacArthur foundation and another $1M from the Takeda foundation. In fact, judging from his rhetoric on the economics of software, he seems to think that this is perfectly normal!
jkent 16y ago
I wonder whether there is more discussion as a result of him refusing to turn up - perhaps he is more famous because of it. Not sure whether he likes the attention or if it fits his political agenda.

From the limited amount I've read about this, he seems to believe that academic mathematics is corrupt and unethical. Basically, he objects to the whole machinery that would award him this prize.

Jun8 16y ago

That and he feels slighted by other researchers, especially Shing-Tung Yau. Edit: If you're interested about Yau, here's a NYT article (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/17/science/17yau.html?_r=1 http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/17/science/17yau.html?_r=1) "But even his admirers say he has a political side. “As Shiing-Shen Chern’s successor as emperor of Chinese mathematics,” Deane Yang, a professor of mathematics at Polytechnic University in Brooklyn and an old family friend, wrote in a letter to The New Yorker, “Yau has an outsized ego and great ambition, and has done things that dismay his peers.” But, Dr. Yang said, Dr. Yau has been a major force for good in mathematics and in China, a prodigious teacher who has trained 39 Ph.D.’s."

abstractbill 16y ago
In my experience the best revenge is usually to live a happy life. If it was me, I'd use the $1M to do that. Even assuming he's completely non-materialistic, I find it hard to imagine there's nothing Perelman could spend the money on that would make him even a little happier.
- mwerty 16y ago
  Taking it would likely change him in undesirable ways for a net negative effect on happiness.
- motters 16y ago
  To a mathematician, some things are far more important than mere money. Accepting tribute money from an organisation you believed to be fundamentally corrupt would be to become one of the very people you despise.
  - abstractbill 16y ago
    To a mathematician, some things are far more important than mere money. I know, my PhD is in pure mathematics - I've seen up-close that mathematicians can be an odd bunch ;) Using the money to fund some kind of an alternative to the organisation he believes is corrupt, surely wouldn't make him corrupt though, just to take one example?
    - kqr2 16y ago
      In some ways, he's "spending" his million dollars to make a public statement about his view of the organization. Had he just accepted the prize, there would probably be little mention of it in the main stream media.
      - abstractbill 16y ago
        That's very true - good point. I wonder what it would actually cost to make this much of a public statement if he spent the money directly that way - maybe it is comparable.
        Groxx 16y ago
        Oh, probably more. How much does human interest cost? This has captured quite a few people's attention, especially considering it's catching people not in mathematics.
        abstractbill 16y ago
        How much does human interest cost? I couldn't resist thinking about this a bit more. Something comparable would be firefox's double-page New York Times ad, which apparently cost about $200k (http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/asa/archives/007103.html http://weblogs.mozillazine.org/asa/archives/007103.html) and certainly reached a lot of non-mathematicians. Even though Perelman's action has generated quite a bit of press attention, my gut feeling is he could have paid for even more attention if he chose to use the prize money to raise awareness directly. That said, if he really wanted to get maximum exposure, he could continue to ignore the prize for almost a year, but accept it at the last minute and then spend it all on ads telling the world how corrupt academic mathematics is ;)
- danielnicollet 16y ago
  It's not about whether spending the money on something would make him happier or not. It's about whether taking the money would commit him to a social group, or structure, or organization he disagrees with. Or maybe he just has other things he wants to be doing that don't require that money. For me that's called being consistent as a man and it's the type of choice that separates men from peons. So, let's not put a man on trial for refusing a gift. What's wrong with that? It didn't harm anybody I think... Go Grigory Perelman!
- gruseom 16y ago
  Even assuming he's completely non-materialistic, I find it hard to imagine there's nothing Perelman could spend the money on that would make him even a little happier What you're saying makes perfect sense in the context of our (modern Western) attitude to money, but Perelman has always struck me as a throwback to an older conception of these things. He might well regard money -- or at least money obtained in this way -- as intrinsically incompatible with pure intellectual life. If accepting the money would entail losing something that he values more, his refusal is not so strange. It's also the case that Russian intellectuals are -- or at least used to be -- biased more in this direction than Western ones. Which reminds me of one of the greatest and funniest things ever said on the subject, Saltykov-Shchedrin on the difference between Russia and the West: "A Westerner sells his soul to the devil; a Russian just gives his soul to the devil."

baddox 16y ago

So basically, he objects to the discipline of mathematics itself. The field is inherently social, because without a sharing of ideas, and in some cases without direct collaboration, progress isn't possible. That said, I have no problem with his choice, but it would be nice if he would at least release a good explanation of what he feels is wrong with "the establishment." I suspect he would be able to discover more mathematical truth if he would at least be somewhat in touch with the mathematics community.

agravier 16y ago
The "sharing" that goes on in most scientific fields is not of the friendly kind. The race for publications (-> money, fame) is the root cause. Ethical values are a facade.

gaius 16y ago

Contrast RMS who had no qualms whatsoever about accepting $1M from the MacArthur foundation and another $1M from the Takeda foundation. In fact, judging from his rhetoric on the economics of software, he seems to think that this is perfectly normal!

jkent 16y ago

I wonder whether there is more discussion as a result of him refusing to turn up - perhaps he is more famous because of it. Not sure whether he likes the attention or if it fits his political agenda.