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Why not just take it and use it as insurance that he will always be able to spend his time doing math... This has nothing to do with principles. Suppose it's 1
by Maro 16y ago
Why not just take it and use it as insurance that he will always be able to spend his time doing math... This has nothing to do with principles.
Suppose it's 1920 in Russia (or Germany) and you turn down $1M. You sure as hell could use that money 20 years later to bribe officials to get out of the country and flee to the US. He's young and living in Russia, a lot of shit could happen in the next 50 years. He should've just taken it, buy gold and bury it in his backyard.
- FrojoS 16y agoI totally agree. History is full of, in some way, very smart people who just happend to be powerless at the wrong place and the wrong time. But then again, maybe, time has changed and the comparison to 1920 Europe is not a valid one anymore. Actually, Perelman might be making the world a saver place by not worrying about his safety!
- Maro 16y agoTime will tell... About a year ago The American Interest had a special issue about Russia, where they said Russia's current territorial size is a historical minimum --- the author was implying this is likely to change through expansion in the future.
- FrojoS 16y agoTrue - you just managed to scare me: I live in Munich. Always better to live the lean lifestyle so you can always leave with your backpack ;-) Still, I'm more worried about other forms of repression in the future. Patriot Act or Telecommunications data retention (EU) have a huge potential for abuse and causing suffer. The problem here is, that you can't solve it by immigrating into a different country. It's more or less the same craziness, where ever you go on this planet.
- guard-of-terra 16y agoI guess he can still reclaim his $1M any time if he would state he is willing to. Why do it now?
- pfedor 16y agoA story has it that in 1940 Alan Turing buried hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of silver bullion, but then forgot the exact place and couldn't find it. Not sure if the money would have helped him much when they came for him.