4 ms·
Not being able to understand the intricacies of this proof, I can take away but one message. Genius can come from anywhere, even from an academic who was only a
by jostmey 13y ago
Not being able to understand the intricacies of this proof, I can take away but one message. Genius can come from anywhere, even from an academic who was only able to find a job working at a Subway diner. So be open to good ideas - they can come from anybody, anywhere.
- jostmey 13y agoAnd to top it all off, this Mathematician was in his late fifties when he published his breakthrough proof!
- eps 13y agoIt's not the age, it's the marital status that affects the productivity the most.
- tomrod 13y agoI find myself downright inspired as a family man.
- pallandt 13y agoWere you being sarcastic? I've heard this before and it's usually considered that once someone gets married/has a family of their own, they simply will have to devote much less time to their profession/'hobbies' (like math) because of time constraints, and then they just start degrading due to lack of practice etc. One of the times it was specifically brought up in reference to a known mathematician. The takeaway being that getting in a relationship, or even married, automatically disqualifies you from achieving anything of great importance in the future....made me pretty sad that it's such a common pattern of thought.
- tomrod 13y agoI'm not being sarcastic. Marriage and family gave me reason and impetus to get my crap together and focus. I am easily distracted by sophomoric pursuits--now I choose hobbies and what not that I can share with the kids. One we really enjoy is kite building. But then, I started my family early. I didn't have much of an established pattern of productivity before. So my baseline comparison may be way off.
- fhars 13y agoYou should feel depressed instead. In men, creativity is destroyed by marriage http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2003/07/11/900147.htm http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2003/07/11/900147.htm
- tomrod 13y agoI'm very appreciative of the the statistical concept of outliers. As Hume would point out, is is not ought.
- eps 13y agoAre you a mathematician?
- tomrod 13y agoEconomist.
- pyk 13y agoIt certainly can't hurt to not be distracted -- Erdos was famously asexual, and it seemed to have turned out well for him! [1][2] [1] http://www.jrhenry.net/johnrhenry/erdos.htm http://www.jrhenry.net/johnrhenry/erdos.htm [2] http://www.nndb.com/people/401/000032305/ http://www.nndb.com/people/401/000032305/
- temujin 13y agoZhang is married.