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Wow so he was 74 when he wrote that answer, and this comment that he followed up with: > I try to write what seems real. By now, I have no cause to fear how

Wow so he was 74 when he wrote that answer, and this comment that he followed up with: > I try to write what seems real. By now, I have no cause to fear how I will be judged, which makes it much easier for me.

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
susam 3y ago
I especially liked this comment that proposed that this answer be called Thurston's Paean: > This seems like an ideal counterpoint to Hardy's Lament. I'm calling it Thurston's Paean :). Seems poignant now that he has passed. -- Suresh Venkat (Aug 22, 2012) I agree. I have now dedicated a page to Thurston's answer at https://susam.net/maze/thurstons-paean.html https://susam.net/maze/thurstons-paean.html hoping that it'll make the term Thurston's Paean slightly more popular.
- jdsalaro 3y ago
  We're doing this, aren't we? :) Let's hope the BART and ChatGPT folks crawl it soon enough haha https://jdsalaro.com/bookmark/quote/thurstons-paean/ https://jdsalaro.com/bookmark/quote/thurstons-paean/
- two_handfuls 3y ago
  Forgive the naïve question, but what is Hardy's lament?
  - ducttapecrown 3y ago
    Hardy's lament is a short popular essay about how the famous professional mathematician Hardy experiences math as art with the curiosity of a child, and yet the average school math education evokes a prison of rote exercise. It was written in 1940 and I think at some point he says something about number theory being pure math with no applications. Ironically I'm submitting this comment over https so he was wrong about that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Mathematician%27s_Apology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Mathematician%27s_Apology
MYEUHD 3y ago
> Wow so he was 74 when he wrote that answer Actually, he was 64
- arcanemachiner 3y ago
  That was just GP honoring the title of the post.
  - susam 3y ago
    What do you mean? http://web.archive.org/web/20230718104503/https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36744690 http://web.archive.org/web/20230718104503/https://news.ycomb... shows "(2010)" and 2010 - 1946 = 64.
    - bobthepanda 3y ago
      It’s a joke about the parent comment being bad at math, so maybe they don’t need to contribute
- KnobbleMcKnees 3y ago
  Yeah, fatigue got the better of me there

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

susam 3y ago

I especially liked this comment that proposed that this answer be called Thurston's Paean: > This seems like an ideal counterpoint to Hardy's Lament. I'm calling it Thurston's Paean :). Seems poignant now that he has passed. -- Suresh Venkat (Aug 22, 2012) I agree. I have now dedicated a page to Thurston's answer at https://susam.net/maze/thurstons-paean.html https://susam.net/maze/thurstons-paean.html hoping that it'll make the term Thurston's Paean slightly more popular.

jdsalaro 3y ago
We're doing this, aren't we? :) Let's hope the BART and ChatGPT folks crawl it soon enough haha https://jdsalaro.com/bookmark/quote/thurstons-paean/ https://jdsalaro.com/bookmark/quote/thurstons-paean/
two_handfuls 3y ago
Forgive the naïve question, but what is Hardy's lament?
- ducttapecrown 3y ago
  Hardy's lament is a short popular essay about how the famous professional mathematician Hardy experiences math as art with the curiosity of a child, and yet the average school math education evokes a prison of rote exercise. It was written in 1940 and I think at some point he says something about number theory being pure math with no applications. Ironically I'm submitting this comment over https so he was wrong about that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Mathematician%27s_Apology https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Mathematician%27s_Apology

MYEUHD 3y ago

> Wow so he was 74 when he wrote that answer Actually, he was 64

arcanemachiner 3y ago
That was just GP honoring the title of the post.
- susam 3y ago
  What do you mean? http://web.archive.org/web/20230718104503/https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36744690 http://web.archive.org/web/20230718104503/https://news.ycomb... shows "(2010)" and 2010 - 1946 = 64.
  - bobthepanda 3y ago
    It’s a joke about the parent comment being bad at math, so maybe they don’t need to contribute
KnobbleMcKnees 3y ago
Yeah, fatigue got the better of me there