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I think the gratuitous cynicism toward the mathematician is uncalled for. Terence Tao has devoted a lot of time writing educational articles on his blog. [1] If

I think the gratuitous cynicism toward the mathematician is uncalled for. Terence Tao has devoted a lot of time writing educational articles on his blog. [1] If he mainly cares for passive income, he could divert a bit of time to hire a production company and film a few courses. He would own 100% of the contents and make millions simply out of his global name recognition. Going with Masterclass is probably the path of least resistance for him to create high-quality video content while continuing to spend most time on research and other educational activities. Another possible factor: Many good mathematicians are quite perfectionistic and would not want to create homemade-quality videos if they can avoid it. [1] https://terrytao.wordpress.com/ https://terrytao.wordpress.com/

cinntaile 5y ago
> He would own 100% of the contents and make millions simply out of his global name recognition. I think you overestimate how commercially viable actual teaching is as opposed to infotainment. Either way, infotainment allows him to earn money and talk about a subject he loves. Good for him and people love infotainment, it tickles their brains just enough but not too much to require actual thinking.
- nopinsight 5y ago
  There are large groups of people who do care about their own’s and their kids’ mathematical education — some in North America and other continents and a huge number in Asia. An example: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/16/south-korea-teachers-exams-education https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/16/south-korea-te... “Teaching pays: Cha said he earned $8m last year. “I’m madly in love with maths,” he said, looking the height of trendiness in his crimson shirt and trousers and tweed jacket, in his office in Gangnam – a wealthy part of Seoul famous for its conspicuous consumption and featured in the song Gangnam Style.” There is a reason the PISA results of some countries stay consistently near the top: https://factsmaps.com/pisa-2018-worldwide-ranking-average-score-of-mathematics-science-reading/ https://factsmaps.com/pisa-2018-worldwide-ranking-average-sc...

cinntaile 5y ago

> He would own 100% of the contents and make millions simply out of his global name recognition. I think you overestimate how commercially viable actual teaching is as opposed to infotainment. Either way, infotainment allows him to earn money and talk about a subject he loves. Good for him and people love infotainment, it tickles their brains just enough but not too much to require actual thinking.

nopinsight 5y ago
There are large groups of people who do care about their own’s and their kids’ mathematical education — some in North America and other continents and a huge number in Asia. An example: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/16/south-korea-teachers-exams-education https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/16/south-korea-te... “Teaching pays: Cha said he earned $8m last year. “I’m madly in love with maths,” he said, looking the height of trendiness in his crimson shirt and trousers and tweed jacket, in his office in Gangnam – a wealthy part of Seoul famous for its conspicuous consumption and featured in the song Gangnam Style.” There is a reason the PISA results of some countries stay consistently near the top: https://factsmaps.com/pisa-2018-worldwide-ranking-average-score-of-mathematics-science-reading/ https://factsmaps.com/pisa-2018-worldwide-ranking-average-sc...