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Your heart just breaks for those kids competing in the IMO. Their peers from other nations are going to go to college, maybe stick with math but they have a mil

Your heart just breaks for those kids competing in the IMO. Their peers from other nations are going to go to college, maybe stick with math but they have a million opportunities ahead of them to use their talents. Meanwhile these kids are getting conscripted into being crooks. I really can’t imagine how bitter that would make me feel.

movedx 5y ago
> Meanwhile these kids are getting conscripted into being crooks They're not crooks from their perspective. They're indoctrinated into hating the west, remember. As far as they're concerned they're likely to feel they're serving their nation and doing a good deed.
- catgary 5y ago
  I don’t know - did every Soviet mathematician buy into their propaganda?
  - phobosanomaly 5y ago
    You can enjoy the intellectual challenge of what you do, while understanding that the political context of it is bullshit.
  - movedx 5y ago
    What?
  - willvarfar 5y ago
    Very tangential, but the story of Jim Simons is interesting. He was an American cryptographer who took a very public stance against the Vietnam War. Being forced to leave, he went and set up the world's most successful hedge fund, became a billionaire and led the nerdification of trading. There are lots of really really interesting interviews with him on YouTube.
  - hnbad 5y ago
    Well, enough Americans do for the NSA and CIA to have plenty of highly intelligent math geeks on staff. Or did you think the US doesn't do propaganda?
phobosanomaly 5y ago
They're patriotically serving their country doing an intellectually challenging job. If you compare it to what many intelligent individuals wind up getting stuck doing in other developing countries it's a pretty awesome opportunity.
hnbad 5y ago
> Meanwhile these kids are getting conscripted into being crooks. > I really can’t imagine how bitter that would make me feel. That's how I feel about smart CS kids getting duped into working for the CIA or NSA, but I have less sympathy with those because they're coerced with cozy paychecks rather than the implied threat of literally being dragged in at gunpoint.
- frockington1 5y ago
  Any idea on CIA and NSA pay? FBI pay is garbage but no idea on the others
  - kingaillas 5y ago
    They are just regular US government agencies on the standard US government payscales.

movedx 5y ago

> Meanwhile these kids are getting conscripted into being crooks They're not crooks from their perspective. They're indoctrinated into hating the west, remember. As far as they're concerned they're likely to feel they're serving their nation and doing a good deed.

catgary 5y ago
I don’t know - did every Soviet mathematician buy into their propaganda?
- phobosanomaly 5y ago
  You can enjoy the intellectual challenge of what you do, while understanding that the political context of it is bullshit.
- movedx 5y ago
  What?
- willvarfar 5y ago
  Very tangential, but the story of Jim Simons is interesting. He was an American cryptographer who took a very public stance against the Vietnam War. Being forced to leave, he went and set up the world's most successful hedge fund, became a billionaire and led the nerdification of trading. There are lots of really really interesting interviews with him on YouTube.
- hnbad 5y ago
  Well, enough Americans do for the NSA and CIA to have plenty of highly intelligent math geeks on staff. Or did you think the US doesn't do propaganda?

phobosanomaly 5y ago

They're patriotically serving their country doing an intellectually challenging job. If you compare it to what many intelligent individuals wind up getting stuck doing in other developing countries it's a pretty awesome opportunity.

hnbad 5y ago

> Meanwhile these kids are getting conscripted into being crooks. > I really can’t imagine how bitter that would make me feel. That's how I feel about smart CS kids getting duped into working for the CIA or NSA, but I have less sympathy with those because they're coerced with cozy paychecks rather than the implied threat of literally being dragged in at gunpoint.

frockington1 5y ago
Any idea on CIA and NSA pay? FBI pay is garbage but no idea on the others
- kingaillas 5y ago
  They are just regular US government agencies on the standard US government payscales.