5 ms·

> But he can’t buy himself a low Erdős number for example. Why not? With that much money I'm sure he can spend enough to convince somebody with a low number to

> But he can’t buy himself a low Erdős number for example. Why not? With that much money I'm sure he can spend enough to convince somebody with a low number to "collaborate" with him in some capacity. Even if it's spell checking the English text or something.

pavlov 3y ago
It's true, academic institutions are quite good at selling their prestige to donors (honorary titles, etc.) So probably he could do this most easily by donating a pile of money to an institution who employs someone with a suitably low number, who then paper-collaborates with the rich donor. Nobody loses face in such a coordinated sell-out. The mathematician did it because it got the math department a $100 million grant. The rich guy is now a recognized patron of the noble science. The university administrators are pleased that they can direct their fundraising efforts elsewhere. And eventually the rich guy's son gets to use this as a talking point to highlight how he's probably inherited some of the family genius: "My father was actually quite an accomplished mathematician too" — nobody remembers or cares 30 years later how it actually went down.
- bambax 3y ago
  > nobody remembers or cares 30 years later how it actually went down Or, nobody remembers why the number is valuable. That was the problem with my grandmother; when she told the story to us, telephone numbers had looong ceased to be significant (or indeed, hard to get) so the fact that yours was small or big didn't mean anything, and it sounded so strange to us that one would cherish it.
buran77 3y ago
Musk managed to buy the low low "number" of co-founder [0] of Tesla. So in my opinion if something is arbitrary it can be bought with enough money. [0] https://www.cnet.com/culture/tesla-motors-founders-now-there-are-five/ https://www.cnet.com/culture/tesla-motors-founders-now-there...
CrazyStat 3y ago
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/theorems-sale https://www.sciencenews.org/article/theorems-sale

pavlov 3y ago

It's true, academic institutions are quite good at selling their prestige to donors (honorary titles, etc.) So probably he could do this most easily by donating a pile of money to an institution who employs someone with a suitably low number, who then paper-collaborates with the rich donor. Nobody loses face in such a coordinated sell-out. The mathematician did it because it got the math department a $100 million grant. The rich guy is now a recognized patron of the noble science. The university administrators are pleased that they can direct their fundraising efforts elsewhere. And eventually the rich guy's son gets to use this as a talking point to highlight how he's probably inherited some of the family genius: "My father was actually quite an accomplished mathematician too" — nobody remembers or cares 30 years later how it actually went down.

bambax 3y ago
> nobody remembers or cares 30 years later how it actually went down Or, nobody remembers why the number is valuable. That was the problem with my grandmother; when she told the story to us, telephone numbers had looong ceased to be significant (or indeed, hard to get) so the fact that yours was small or big didn't mean anything, and it sounded so strange to us that one would cherish it.

buran77 3y ago

Musk managed to buy the low low "number" of co-founder [0] of Tesla. So in my opinion if something is arbitrary it can be bought with enough money. [0] https://www.cnet.com/culture/tesla-motors-founders-now-there-are-five/ https://www.cnet.com/culture/tesla-motors-founders-now-there...

CrazyStat 3y ago

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/theorems-sale https://www.sciencenews.org/article/theorems-sale