Grigori Perelman published his papers for free | Luís and João Batalha and Lex Fridman

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Luis and Joao Batalha are co-founders of Fermat's Library.
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[@BlueSoulTiger]

William Thurston on Perelman: "Perelman's aversion to public spectacle and to riches is mystifying to many. I have not talked to him about it and I can certainly not speak for him, but I want to say I have complete empathy and admiration for his inner strength and clarity, to be able to know and hold true to himself. Our true needs are deeper - yet in our modern society most of us reflexively and relentlessly pursue wealth, consumer goods and admiration. We have learned from Perelman's mathematics. Perhaps we should also pause to reflect on ourselves and learn from Perelman's attitude toward life."

[@dougl309]

where did you get this quote from?

[@pikiwiki]

we should copy his example to be free of the sins of the world

[@AG-lm5uf]

Not only did he publish it for free, but he also refused to accept a $1 million prize. This man is a rare specimen among the many self aggrandizing humans we typically see.

[@penttiranta9730]

Its funny how a guy achieves something so incredible and unique, something that has puzzled humanitys best minds for a century and everydoby is amazed not by that fact, but by the fact that he refused some money :) I mean solving Poincare is hard, but REFUSING A MILLION DOLLARS thats impossible! XD

[@unskeptable]

Why not get the 1 mill and give it to the Africans ?

[@Dark_Souls_3]

@@unskeptablethey don’t need it

[@pikiwiki]

what a noble saint he truly is

[@ValidatingUsername]

Imagine that narrative was false and perpetuated about him to cover up him trying to get the work published while society tried to steal it and discredit him

[@vadim419]

Dear Lex, if you do have the opportunity to interview Perelman, it would be an unparalleled privilege for both you and your audience.

[@ambrosesabbat9385]

He hates journalists, Perelmann won't answer.

[@ccbgaming6994]

I don’t think he wants to be interviewed

[@damosuzuki4125]

everyone should just leave the man alone. if he wants to talk there is no shortage of people that would love to talk to him.

[@jccusell]

The fact one of the most prestigious universities, supposedly an avatar of intellectual thought and intelligence, asks one of the greatest living mathematicians on earth for a resume just after he gave lectures to Princeton professors explaining his proof which they could not completely follow or understand by themselves, exposes everything that has gone wrong in the hallowed halls of learning.

[@ChristAliveForevermore]

It really goes to show that Academia in its truest form is dead. Corporatocracy has infected all institutions in the West.

[@aftermath4096]

this is Princeton dude, not some random uni, in math, Princeton is about the strongest uni there is. All the faculties there are basically geniuses in their own right.

[@therealjayz8036]

@@aftermath4096 if they’re geniuses then why would they ask for his resume

[@ismaelamadorgarcia272]

​​@@therealjayz8036its imposible to learn a proof of that level in one single lecture. It's natural to ask for a resume

[@bhaskarmukherjee4768]

@@therealjayz8036 They didn't. It's the dumbass university HR that did :)

[@dkn2101]

Perelman rejected the fields medal as he felt his contributions to solving the Poincare conjecture were no greater than Richard Hamilton's, since Hamilton pioneered the Ricci Flow that Perelmen build upon. I was a student in Richard Hamilton's class at Columbia (Differential Geometry) right around this time in '07. Not only was he utterly brilliant, but like Perelman didn't seem to have the Millenium Prize or credit for solving Poincare on his mind when we approached him during office hours. For a lot of these great mathematicians truth seems to be the greater reward :)

[@davidliljewall4017]

All scientific papers should be free to access. Perelman is setting a notable precedent that I hope catches on!

[@jagatiello6900]

Indeed

[@Mordwand]

Actually in addition to publishing their results in a journal, most authors do upload the preprints to arXiv, whats different in Perelman's case is that he did not bother publishing his results in any journal. Also, note that there are open access journals, some demand certain amount of money from authors, some dont.

[@kellyja8]

The publication/textbook/conference industry is a sham. Some journals charge thousands of dollars in fees, which effectively shuts out anyone without grant funds. The same goes for many of the top conferences.

[@yavarjn2055]

Western culture is all materialism, and money is first. The people who think used to be valued. Now people who make money or are famous are portraited as valuable. Professors are afraid for their positions, the contracts are one year based, students dictate what they want, and the job of a professor is to bring funding to the universities or being a clown to the students. Look at how the society treats those who made machine learning and revolutionized artificial intelligence. Shouldnt the professor be rich instead of universities? Who does the research and the teaching? The administrative departments get all the credit. To go to the university you should pay a price of a house. Companies like ETS have like 100 English certificates which are worse each year. GRE has become a kids play. Olyimpiads are not discussed, the level of education is falling every year. Publishing has become a joke, everybody replicating old research and citing friends. This has led to a mafia that cares little about science. The industry discovers every day that graduates know too little that it is better to offer short courses and hire people who can make the products that are replica of each other. No value for novelty. Disney copying writers, Garcia Marques copying William Faulkner and winning Nobel for it. Obama got his Nobel when he was recently elected. I could go on. The money-centered culture is a parasite to art, science and being human in general. Goodbye the days that philosophers and scientists were a credit to a society and they were respected for that. Check out the movie "idiocrocy".

[@Leo-if5tn]

Scihub, Libgen ...

[@P.J.W.]

He also felt that it was inappropriate to take full credit for solving this problem as he considered Richard Hamilton’s work to be equally (or perhaps even more) instrumental in solving this problem.

[@markdowding5737]

I wonder why the Clay Institute didn't simply follow its request and split the prize between him and Hamilton.

[@kurtistrent4772]

@@markdowding5737 because it was Perelman who SOLVED the conjecture. Thousands of mathematicians contributed to this solution, and if we start splitting the money between all the dead and living people who made this solution possible, Perelman will hardly get a dollar left. Because Hamilton based his works on Thurston's works etc. on and on to the past ages. No one starts the solution from scratch.

[@markdowding5737]

@@kurtistrent4772 Scientific prizes are often split between multiple scientists who did relevant work to the topic in question. The Nobel prizes of Chemestry and Physics often have multiple winners every year. I think Hamilton deserved part of the recognition since Perelman essentialy built his proof based on Hamilton's discoveries and insights

[@deltasquared7777]

finding a person having the absolute integrity of Perelman is as difficult and rare as finding a person capable of solving the Poincare conjecture.

[@pikiwiki]

Probably harder

[@0predelenie]

such pleasure to hear guest, so warming words about that great man - Grigory Perelman

[@MarkoBotsaris]

I have zero problem with the peer review system, but the publishers like Elsevier have always enraged me. They are companies that create zero content themselves, make the authors pay for the publications cost though their respective institutions like federal grants, and make the same group of scientists serve as unpaid editorial staff only to then overcharge for it to the point of making it impossible for the public - who payed for most of it - to read it without access to an academic library. In the digital age this not only makes no sense, but is unjust. And to add the last insult to injury - about the time I started publishing papers the authors even started doing all the typesetting themselves digitally. That is quite a racket! I think that is the purest definition of a parasite - an organism that has found a way to live off of the work of others without contributing anything themselves. So I do like in principle that the mathematical result of the century was dropped in an online archive with an implicit big Perelman middle finger to those guys. It does create some other long term problems with signal to noise, but nothing that couldn’t be solved with some concerted effort. But I look forward to the day when maybe my grandchildren can piss on the graves of some of these publishers.

[@evanwillenson1398]

Interesting to hear Lex's distinction across creative & business peoples

[@bingolio]

Grigori Perelman: Infinite Respect!!!

[@shortError404]

I would seriously die of happiness if you interview Perelman... He's such an interesting human big and I really wanna know more Bout him!!

[@TheArkadyuti]

Every sentence gave me goosebumps

[@womslearnenglish]

Fascinating. What a man. What principles! I wholeheartedly agree that all scientific papers should be published for free.

[@bernardofitzpatrick5403]

I hope you can interview Grigori Perelman one day. What a feat that would be. 🎉 .

[@felipelopes3171]

Although him refusing the awards is odd, I still don't get why him publishing the papers on arxiv for free would be weird. The alternative would be to either give the rights to a publisher to paywall it, or use government funds to pay a publisher to call experts to review it without even paying those experts. So, instead of going through this process, he simply put it there, and now that everyone knows the proof is correct, what's the issue? Seems to me everyone else in academia does it wrong, not Perelman.

[@thomassynths]

I think he doesn't want his name associated with the company at all and doesn't want to tacitly "endorse" arxiv.

[@raffeisen2085]

one thing Lex knows is that Perelman is not an easy person to get interview with

[@user-cz6mo5gh2p]

``When you remove money from the picture is where excellence comes in" LexClips - Perelman will like this quote for sure! Great wise video

[@Todd_plays_poker]

Worlds mathematical genius’ after two years of checking: “ you solved it.” Perelman: “I know.”

[@ДмитрийСмакольский]

😃😃😃

[@benoto1014]

That would be incredible to get that interview.. it would be.

[@P.J.W.]

Never gonna happen. I agree though it would be awesome. But several people have tried much harder than Lex to speak with him. He’s not a fan of mainstream academia and is somewhat eccentric and reclusive.

[@JameBlack]

Not going to happen, Perelman will lose a lot and gain nothing with this interview

[@DanOneOne]

I was into science and tech a lot. I am so glad I quit. Life is so much easier without this constant struggle. I let others be heroes now.

[@BabyXGlitz]

one of the best Lex Clipses

[@robertwhitten265]

No chance he will talk to you.

[@fallenangel8785]

I wish you could interview him

[@BlastinRope]

The current academic system is becoming the catholic church of science

[@ivanniyeha4229]

Stop your stupid hatred

[@ivanniyeha4229]

Stop your stupid hatred

[@MrPrebuttal]

Thats why I didn't go to university, I can see from the outside its a priesthood

[@XTheLolX301]

What that means

[@Batman_akzo]

There is no denial to your statement. Fear of contradiction is increasing at a rapid pace in the people sitting in the upper echelon. Selective data is being used to frame narratives. False is being covered in all sorts of fabrics to be presented as truth.

[@alberttanner408]

Publish it online on KZbin his lectures.

[@deltasquared7777]

After Perelman published his proof it took years for the very few mathematicians capable of understanding it several years to verify it--Perelman well understood that if he had submitted it to a mathematical journal it would be subjected to peer review and would have been thrown into the trash bin because the usual peer reviewers are totally incapable of understanding the proof, and even much less capable of taking the responsibility of accepting it for publication.

[@saulberardo5826]

Perelman lost $1 million to earn his place in Mount Othris with the Titans

[@TiM2US]

Luís Batalha is wrong about the reason why Perelman rejected the fields medal, the truth is that Perelman believed his contribution was equal to Hamilton and they refused to include Hamitlon in this prize

[@Puzzle_Dust]

I hope that Grigori Perelman is still working outside of the public eye

[@e.galois4940]

Waiting for lex interviewing perelman :)

[@Ugoogolizer]

Lex do you think if you were really good at the marketing and money and stuff that you'd feel the same way? As someone who shares your intuitions about money/business/marketing vs. purity of the pursuit, I do catch myself wondering if I hate them not because those games are bad but I'm bad at them

[@argynkuketayev4166]

his entire rant about how money didn't matter in Soviet science is bonkers. the guy has no idea how research funding was procured in USSR.

[@letranger5]

The Chair at Princeton was not Peter Sarnak on either of occasions, in early 1990s and in 2003. I know the story first hand.

[@pedroth3]

Lex Friedman, please interview Grigori Perelman if you can! Thanks in advance

[@mrajkishor331]

Lex must invite perelman once for an interview.

[@fraser1237]

Very interesting conversation

[@valentin5403]

Are you guys trading gossips behind his back?

[@Abhishek-ti5er]

Get someone to talk abut S.Ramanujan the great Indian mathematician.

[@santoshr2984]

Waiting for Perelmen interview ..

[@FoivosApostolou]

What Lex start saying around 9:20 is something I resonate with.

[@lanrilYT]

Ну что, взял интервью?))

[@liongordel9088]

When you know the truth, the truth will set you free. [ Iehoshua. Iahudi. The Bible. -John 8:32]. Perlman found his truth and he is free. Please let him be.

[@michaelatellez8470]

Starting at 08:45 til the end of the video: 👍🏾👍🏾👍🏾…

[@sergeylivandovskiy4975]

Перельман гений!… Единственной человек, решивший теорему Пуанкаре!

[@venkat4167]

I believe Perelman got pissed off after the plagiarism part. Things might have been different if it weren’t for that incident.

[@lanrilYT]

Последний монолог вообще сумбурность, куча стереотипов и наборов слухов.

[@penttiranta9730]

Lex lives in a fantasy land if he thinks he could interview Perelman.

[@ancestralrocha7709]

You need money to not worry about money, or everything paid for, which is basically the same

[@sumanchowdhury6162]

Kudos to Gregory

[@lanrilYT]

Ложь, на счёт стероидов. Мельдоний не даёт сердцу остановиться. И такой препарат есть у США.

[@maiconfaria]

What is the metrics of "capitalism works well" for science?

[@subriotech2007]

Well… postdocs still don’t make any money.

[@Benjamin93swe1]

It really sounds like he says "sexually interesting" at 0:59.

[@chrisc1981]

If people bet on horses, why not science. Why not sponsorship, and have stake in discovery.

[@neiloppa2620]

That's a cool idea

[@BabyXGlitz]

money is the sole of the West

[@danielvillacres4437]

Wow

[@kishwaralamgir4468]

Perelman rejected the prize as he was disappointed in the math community for being a leecher and consumerist; which was evident as Chinese mathematicians and others tried to take credit as co-authors (by explaining bits of his paper's arguments as his paper was a bit terse) for solving the conjecture AFTER HE PUBLISHED THE PAPER. He rejected the field medal for his impression that mathematicians no longer cared for the truth but medals, honor, limelight, etc. mathematicians are usually non-confronting but the act of scavenging the limelight of another man's work is really disappointing even to me a student as I've always regarded mathematicians to be a level above the rest of us

[@calvinjackson8110]

I am surprised at others trying to get credit for his work. It just shows it is simply raw human greed at the bottom of it all.

[@dimanxgermanist1327]

Grigory's face in the thumbnail looks like someone Gigachad would avoid dropping a soap while being in one room with

[@ahmedsaadsabit1749]

Too good

[@johnstfleur3987]

I AM.

[@evanwillenson1398]

Also - Lex NEEEEEEEEEDS to fly to Russia and interview Grigori Perelman

[@millamilla10]

🖤🖤🖤

[@kaou00]

Interesting discussion towards the end. Think about Shohei Ohtani in Dec. 2023, deferring most of his salary to the future. It’s not money that spoils the athlete - it is a choice of the athlete. Is tough but it is still a choice they have, to allow the money to just the waters or not. And Ohtani showed that you can have the money and not let it spoil you.

[@calicoesblue4703]

Many athletes show you can have the money & not let it spoil you.🤷

[@johnstfleur3987]

I SENT A BOOK TO RICHARD S. HAMILTON.

[@pmlbeirao]

He just cared about meth. Portuguese accent is funny.

[@taopaille-paille4992]

Mathematicians should disregard money lol? the guy is clueless and quite condescending here.

[@calicoesblue4703]

Ikr🤣🤣🤣😎👍

[@johnstfleur3987]

GOD.

[@scottbrady6240]

GUESS HE WASNT THAT GOOD AT MATH AFTER ALL CUZ THAT DOESNT ADD UP FOR SHIT

[@complexlogic8634]

So basically Perelman was a Russian communist about everything...I once heard of a Japanese man that was born in Japan.

[@danielc2694]

Typical Russian genius.

[@calicoesblue4703]

His ethnicity is actually Jewish not Russian.

[@KyleBroder]

All mathematicians post their papers on the arXiv first, there is nothing special about Perelman posting his papers on the arXiv...

[@shahrukh877]

"first" vs "only"

[@blindmath7176]

What do you reckon the probability is Lex actually interviews Perelman?

[@letrasynumeros6353]

3%

[@Myrslokstok]

@@letrasynumeros6353 Yhee but probably bigger then most. Unless hes only going to ask the usuall questions.

[@Mushin367]

Lex is a very likeable personality. His chances are probably higher than most, but I wouldn't put it above 10%.

[@GDNM502]

0%

[@je9625]

Zero.

[@jonathanfarley2023]

Every mathematician publishes his papers for free. There are plenty of journals that are open-access.

[@professorwolverinebeardsan470]

Of course he published them for free, this is standard practice. Everyone in math publishes their work for free. In fact, you can’t make money off of your scientific article.

[@PixelPhobiac]

Who dis though?