Perelman Urged To Accept $1m Prize 421
krou writes "The Warm Home charity in St. Petersburg, Grigory Perelman's home-town, has urged the math genius and recluse to accept the $1m Millennium Prize for solving the Poincaré conjecture, and donate it to charities. Perelman has refused to accept the award, telling one reporter through the closed door of his flat, 'I have all I want,' and another who managed to call him on his mobile, 'You are disturbing me. I am picking mushrooms.'"
This is hilarious (Score:5, Insightful)
Patron saint of basement dwellers everywhere.
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Well, I suspect his disposition is what enabled him to make this discovery. Human progress can't all be achieved by preppie facebook overachievers. Some crazy is needed for the truly genius results.
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Well, I suspect his disposition is what enabled him to make this discovery. Human progress can't all be achieved by preppie facebook overachievers. Some crazy is needed for the truly genius results.
Yeah, just remember that genius and madness are only separated by a thin line.
Re:This is hilarious (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah, just remember that genius and madness are only separated by a thin line.
Some people aren't as fixated on money or socializing and gossip as journalists and Trolls are. Not wanting to be part of the In-Crowd does NOT make a person insane, or on the verge of insanity. Some people, like me, program for a hobby. Some people even write poetry without the intent of having it published. It makes us weird compared to the Trolls and socialites out there. But it doesn't make us crazy.
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This guy, though, actually is insane, as anyone who read up on his life and habits knows.
Re:This is hilarious (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:This is hilarious (Score:5, Informative)
Re:This is hilarious (Score:5, Informative)
While that's what happened in the film, that's not what happened in real life. According to Wikipedia [wikipedia.org] he never had visual hallucinations, and only heard voices from 1964 onwards, 5 years after being diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Re:This is hilarious (Score:4, Insightful)
> Yeah, just remember that genius and madness are only separated by a thin line.
In this case it isnt so.
He is genius. he knows more math then you do. and he knows more about a good life then you do.
because you dont understand him, considers him a madman on both accounts probably. Only so in the math part someone already told you to belive that he is a genius. not that you would understand it too. as you do not understand his views on a good life.
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Is he doing what he enjoys - Yes (By his own admission) ...
Is he happy - Well until the press started bugging him yes
Sounds like he is someone who is happy, employed and has enough money.... ....unlike many people he seems to value the right things
Re:This is hilarious (Score:5, Insightful)
This is not a good life by any measure.
Precisely who the hell are you to make that call? You're certainly not him.
Re:This is hilarious (Score:4, Insightful)
May be OK for him, but how about his mom and sis? (Score:5, Interesting)
No, I don't think he is providing for his needs (he doesn't look capable of doing it) - I think his mother and/or sister are/is.
So if it were up to me, I'd actually use the money to provide a monthly stipend to his mother and sister (for as long as Perelman continues to be supported by them).
Since he doesn't want the money, I think it's fair to give it to the ones who supported him, since without them he might not have survived to solve the problem.
IMO giving a monthly amount is better than a lump sum. Since it is more likely that Perelman would benefit in the long term.
I think it's also a good idea to give the mom and sister a one time sum of money as a gift - on top of that monthly amount.
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Tell me: is this becoming mentally unstable and unable to cope interacting with society or not? I mean becoming unstable in one's solitude is one thing; becoming unstable when society intrudes on your solitude is quite another.
Further, are you differentiating between chosen solitude and enforced solitude, because those would have very different effects.
Finally, his is social within the confines of his family. Social has many different dimensions. To pick and choose which aspects you want to interact with se
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He lives in a small apartment with his mother and doesn't talk to anyone. This is not a good life by any measure.
I'm the AC [slashdot.org] near the top of this thread. I'm in my 40's and live in my parents basement (yeah I know, I'm a living stereotype of how not to turn out). I try to avoid talking to people (except for the occasional comment on Slashdot). I was going to ignore your comment before you got up-moderated. I wish people like you would be able to have the intellectual ability to realize that what you say is not only offensive, prejudiced, biased, illogical, and outright wrong; but has absolutely no basis in reality. Not
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The ironic thing about you and your type is that it just re-enforces my beliefs that actually talking to people is a waste of time and will likely end up in people insulting me because I live in my mothers basement trying to improve my mind by doing programming assignments, practicing Mathematics, reading psychology, instead of socializing and gossiping and making value judgments on people.
No, the really ironic thing is that you decry the judgment of other people, while you are highly judgmental of others.
Not wanting to socialize with people is a GOOD thing, it isn't a bad thing. But, like usual, assholes like you will judge me by my ability and willingness to socialize, instead of by my intelligence, logic, or morality.
You make it sound like intelligence and is somehow the opposite of socializing. It's not. Humans are social creatures. That's not a very intelligent thing to ignore. You live on a planet full of other people, and you depend on those other people for your continued survival.
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And apparently this gentleman has found that the only other people he really needs is his mother and whoever he has contact with through non-meatspace methods.
That's simply not true. He needs the people who grow his food. He needs the people who help stabilize society, so he is not murdered or killed in a war.
Let's live and let live, shall we?
Did I ever say anything about not letting him live? All I did was note the irony of his condemning other people (calling them assholes, amongst other things) while at the same time bemoaning somebody passing less offensive judgment on somebody else.
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Yeah, just remember that genius and madness are only separated by a thin line.
Isn't it "The distance between insanity and genius is measured only by success"?
Re:This is hilarious (Score:5, Insightful)
The poor bloke just wants to do math and pick mushrooms. There's nothing wrong with him just because he doesn't fit into the "nuclear" society mould.
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If you left your chair to go outside and pick some Morels, and cooked them with some food, you'd change your tune about picking mushrooms. I promise. There's a reason they cost $115 a pound dried ;) Fresh they are orgasmically good and picking them is the only way to get them that way.
Re:This is hilarious (Score:5, Insightful)
Actually I read a interview with him at some point (I think in the New Yorker), and he really doesn't want the limelight.
Since his discovery, he's had offers from major universities to work, and he's turned them all down.
He really didn't do this for the glory. He is one of those few, rare individuals who achieved great things solely because they were there. Humble. Strange. Special in some way.
I honestly admire this man. He has solved one of the most important problems of our time (and others' time) and his only wish is that other people take it further, purely for the sake of knowledge and understanding. Not for awards. Not for riches. Not for fame. Simply for knowledge.
We may not understand him. Quite likely he doesn't understand us.
He may not accept our riches, but he has given us something far far greater than mere money. Leave him be.
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Perhaps I should turn in my geek card for not knowing or caring who he is but ...
Really, sounds like the guy just wants to be left alone ... bugging him really isn't going to do anyone any good and he seems to be being awfully nice to people bugging the shit out of him and being otherwise very inconsiderate (stereotypical of reporters and the public at large).
Stereotypical of geeks it may be, but I can certainly sympathize with him.
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He could simply state that openly, take the million dollars and give it away and chastize them for having prizes in the first place. If that was his goal it's the worst way to be doing it.
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I disagree, I think he's being a douchebag. Anyone with a head would take a million dollars and use it to alleviate suffering of others if he was a decent man.
Well, supposedly that $1M is in the committee now. What's stopping them from giving it away to charities? It's not like, if Perelman refuses it, it magically disappears in a puff of smoke.
I believe that his point is that he doesn't want that money as an award. Accepting it would come with strings attached - namely, the recognition of the practice, and the authority of those people to hand out such awards.
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I don't think you get the point, he's denying it out of principle of being a decent human being, but he's not, he's just being a typical nerdy brat who doesn't get it.
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You're criticising his choice to abstain from accepting a monetary award by arguing that the money could be going to whatever causes you deem to be appropriate. If you understood your own reasoning, you would be critical of the organisation offering the prize, rather than awarding the money to whatever causes you deem to be appropriate, and you would be applauding the man for refusing to participate in their undertaking.
I don't know the man or his motivations, so I have no interest in judging neither. I do
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"Why does he have to take the money in order for it to be given to charity? If he doesn't want it why can't the Clay Mathematics Institute just donate it directly to charity?"
My point is just finding a way to make them look bad either by telling them to give it away or taking it himself and giving it away would be enough. That's my main problem he hasn't said anything, and I doubt the clay institute is just going to get up and give it away arbitrarily.
If his point is to make them look bad he's not doing it
I have an idea... (Score:5, Insightful)
Maybe leave the guy alone like he wants?
Re:I have an idea... (Score:5, Insightful)
Sounds like a plan to me. I'd be pissed off if people kept bugging me as well. Just take the money he doesn't want and give it to a math oriented scholarship fund or something.
Re:I have an idea... (Score:5, Informative)
Sounds like a plan to me. I'd be pissed off if people kept bugging me as well. Just take the money he doesn't want and give it to a math oriented scholarship fund or something.
and yet maybe if you had a clue about where he was coming from you'd know it was the same math community that fucked him over that you suggest giving blindly too.... not that I dont disagree with teaching math on all levels to those that want it., but it is more immersive than that at a higher level (not just a give it to math scholarships and call it a day (yet I can see your point, but his as well). he was at the height of mathadamia (yay for made up words) and what he saw there was nothing short of cut throat... I'm four sheets to the wind, but please look up some of my earlier arguments.... ah fuck it, here is my earlier discussion on him: http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1484928&cid=30508008 [slashdot.org]
and really, dont take it from me, read the new yorker piece on him (I ref in my link). he is something special. not just some stuck up asshole looking for an albeit good for him negitive bit of PR.
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:I have an idea... (Score:5, Funny)
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Yeah, the upkeep is where they get you though. Have you seen the prices on shark de-barnacling lately? Talk about a market bubble...
Re:I have an idea... (Score:5, Funny)
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Maybe leave the guy alone like he wants?
If only he had the money to hire a decent bodyguard.
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Or maybe he -is- a recluse.
From what I read this is all well within his pattern of behaviour.
Personally I can agree with him. Simply "Fuck off and leave him alone".
I think it's safe to say that he's not going to sue for the money, they should setup a bursary and help educate a student or two.
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Maybe leave the guy alone like he wants?
Am I the only one who thinks this guy is getting off on all the attention he is getting by pretending to be a recluse who doesn't want any attention or money. If he had just taken the money the world would have forgotten about him by now.
I doubt if he left the money he would be left alone. To start with there would be a at least small ceremony for him when he received the prize money (something I doubt he wants), there would be many people that would want to interview him at the ceremony (again something I doubt he wants), his picture heavily plastered in lots of places for the achievement (again...), companies that now would want to hire him or at least 'work a deal out' with him because of him intelligence, schools that might want him to
Re:I have an idea... (Score:4, Insightful)
Within the field of mathematics, a lifetime of fame is his pretty much no matter what he does. He has the proof, he doesn't have to play act.
Outside of mathematics, there are a fair few things you could do for $1,000,000, particularly on vacation to somewhere with a lower cost of living index, that could keep you in the tabloids for weeks, or surrounded by enthusiastic companions for longer than that, until the cash runs out.
I'm betting that he is the real deal. If he got off on attention, he could just accept the cash, be up to his eyes for a month solid in hookers and blow somewhere nice and tropical, and then spend however long he wanted basking in honorary doctorates and crowds of adoring mathematics departments the world over.
Re:I have an idea... (Score:5, Interesting)
No there are a couple of other posters who also don't get it.
Spinoza [wikipedia.org]..."is considered one of the great rationalists of 17th-century philosophy, laying the groundwork for the 18th century Enlightenment and modern biblical criticism.....Spinoza is considered to be one of Western philosophy's most important philosophers...Spinoza lived quietly as a lens grinder, turning down rewards and honors throughout his life, including prestigious teaching positions"
nope (Score:2)
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How so? This story has been on slashdot on several occasions; I'd say that he's gotten a ton of attention just by refusing the prize money.
This guy... (Score:5, Insightful)
Is a total badass, he sets the standard for life.
you are a scared little one, aren't you? (Score:5, Insightful)
Does Perelman not taking the money scare you?
Does he offend you?
Does he entice a violent reaction in you?
Do you hate it, when someone sticks out of the crowd not out of a desire to be more 'cool looking' but simply because he does not need the crowd?
Take the money and give it to charity, you self-important Shit
- why don't you go and find him and beat him into submission to your own standards, that will hopefully satisfy your primordial craving to make sure nobody is different and whoever is different they are destroyed, so that the coherency of the group is in balance yet again?
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No. I find it rather childish and odd.
- person has everything he needs, he is happy. Is that childish and odd? I wonder, I envy his childish oddity then.
No. But why is he so stand-offish? Why not try to change what you don't like from a position of authority? Perelmen could do it if he wanted to, but it's like he's given up. That's what bothers me.
- and what a waste of time that would be for him. Instead of taking off and going to pick up some mushrooms and prepare a dish, instead of working out details of some math problem you want him to become a social activist? He is happy doing what he is doing. He is happy living the life he is living. He lived in the USA for a year, he was mostly eating rye brad and fermented milk (kefir)
I'm amazed he has a mobile (Score:5, Funny)
Maybe try his facebook.
They don't make recluses like they used to.
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'Your disturbing me. I'm picking mushrooms' (Score:5, Funny)
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Those must be some powerful 'shrooms!
Re:'Your disturbing me. I'm picking mushrooms' (Score:4, Funny)
Rumor has it that anyone who eats those mushrooms will become twice as tall and have the power to break bricks.
Re:'Your disturbing me. I'm picking mushrooms' (Score:4, Informative)
It is a funny quote in the context of most people from the Americas, understand that in Russia, specifically St Petersburg there are millions of people who eat mushrooms, not the magic kind, the good stuff, eatable. He picks mushrooms in St. Peterburg's parks, they are huge parks, also there are forests right outside the city.
People really eat mushrooms and berries that they pick, it is a tradition and a free source of food. I highly HIGHLY doubt that he does almost anything that changes his perception of reality at all. His perception is very acutely tuned, apparently he has very very strong moral compass, to the point of obsessiveness.
Just leave him alone.. (Score:5, Insightful)
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Ah... an Oscar (Score:5, Insightful)
This latest snub follows his refusal in 2006 to collect the maths equivalent of an Oscar, the Fields Medal.
Its sad that the Fields medal is being compared to the Oscars - don't get me wrong, the Oscars are high honors in their fields - but comparing the lifetime of dedication scientists and mathematicians put into their work to the winner of 'Best miniskirt on hot actress in a running scene' doesn't seem right.
Not for this reason (Score:5, Interesting)
He's rejecting it on principled grounds. Regardless of what you think about those principles, he simply can't do this just for short term charity.
When he rejected the Field's medal, he simply said to the effect of, "If I take the money, I'd be obligated to correct the wrongs I see, otherwise I'd be a hypocrite. I don't want to be the one making that crusade, so I have to reject the money." (Remember the scene in Thank You For Not Smoking?) It's a simple, logical response. He may be a recluse and all, but there's nothing strange about his refusal to take the money.
self defeating (Score:5, Insightful)
Refusing a $1 million prize will, I suspect, generate more, of the attention he doesn't want.
The journalists camped outside his home and calling his cell phone don't give a crap about some obscure piece of mathematics - they care about the weirdo who is turning down a fortune.
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So they announced a prize just over a week ago, and he managed to turn it down 4 years ago.
No wonder he doesn't care about stupid prizes, he's playing with his time machine which I'm sure is much more fun.
Or are you confusing the Fields medal with this prize? Obviously to the non-mathematics media (i.e. all of them) accepting or not accepting the Fields medal are both just about equally boring and not worth caring about. Refusing a million dollars is much more interesting from a news perspective than accept
Mother and Sister? (Score:4, Interesting)
If he's jobless and living with his family, the least the foundation could do is contact his family and ask if they'd like the money for rent, food, etc. They're essentially paying for his work and even if he doesn't want the prize, they could give it to his family quietly so he can continue to do his work without someone having to worry about rent.
Re:Mother and Sister? (Score:5, Interesting)
From what I can recall, his mother and sister are similarly minded as he himself is.
Thus, they too would refuse the money.
Is integrity such a rare thing these days, that everybody freaks the fuck out when they see it, call the person exhibiting it "Strange", and "Weird"?
Because that is what seems to be happening from my vantage point.
Seriously, just stop harassing the man. The doesn't want any prizes, additional prestige, or some fucking trophy for his wall. He solved the conjecture, his name will be in math books for the rest of eternity, and that is prize enough for him. Just leave him the fuck alone already.
Re:Mother and Sister? (Score:4, Insightful)
Is integrity such a rare thing these days, that everybody freaks the fuck out when they see it, call the person exhibiting it "Strange", and "Weird
Of course! Things are only "strange" or "weird" because they are outside the norm. If integrity were the norm, the situation would be quite different. Wouldn't you agree?
I think you misunderstand him (Score:5, Insightful)
He solved the conjecture, his name will be in math books for the rest of eternity, and that is prize enough for him.
I think you're either misunderstanding him, or replacing his wants by your own.
I think it's more like this: he solved the conjecture, and that is prize enough for him.
Quit bothering the guy (Score:4, Interesting)
Quit bothering the guy already.
He's sensible enough to know that if he accepts, people will want him to give speeches, attend talks, and will generally waste his time. Feynman once pointed out that winning a Nobel Prize meant that he heard from many people he really didn't want to talk to. Feynman sometimes gave talks under a pseudonym, so that only the people really interested in the subject matter would show up.
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Have to hand it this guy, though.
Feynman succumbed to the peer pressure and accepted the prize. Perelman hasn't caved in to peer pressure yet and this is his second one...
Everyone's friends when you've got the greenbacks (Score:2)
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That's the thing that would really bug me about suddenly coming in to a heap of money I didn't really earn (i'm not saying this guy didn't earn the million, but that appears to be his opinion). You'd find out more about the people around you than you probably ever wanted to know.
And i'm sure there are exceptions, but giving people lots of money that they don't really feel that they've earned probably isn't going to make them happy in the long run.
Oh yeah, go ahead... (Score:2, Insightful)
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No, he probably understands the importance of discovery or else he wouldn't have revealed this one. We don't want him to release them post-mortem.
what mushrooms? (Score:3, Insightful)
and another who managed to call him on his mobile, 'You are disturbing me. I am picking mushrooms.'
Just check the weather in St.Petersburg, Russia. It is still too cold there for any mushrooms to grow. So much for journalist's integrity.
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They can grow mushrooms indoors now that we have that wonderful invention 'heating'.
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Oblig. Good Will Hunting quote (Score:4, Insightful)
Will: Oh, come on! What? Why is it always this? I mean, I fuckin' owe it to myself to do this or that. What if I don't want to?
Chuckie: No. No, no no no. Fuck you, you don't owe it to yourself man, you owe it to me. Cuz tomorrow I'm gonna wake up and I'll be 50, and I'll still be doin' this shit. And that's all right. That's fine. I mean, you're sittin' on a winnin' lottery ticket. And you're too much of a pussy to cash it in, and that's bullshit. 'Cause I'd do fuckin' anything to have what you got. So would any of these fuckin' guys. It'd be an insult to us if you're still here in 20 years. Hangin' around here is a fuckin' waste of your time.
<b> mine.
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This man has no friends, and all everyone wants from him is his work.
It is true that he would most likely be way better off if he used that work to make himself rich, but that's up to him and it's insulting to propose that he owes it to complete strangers such as us.
An artform. (Score:5, Insightful)
I think Perelman is not so much a weirdo, but an aesthetic artist of sorts--he's been hurt by the fact that humans have tried to monetize something he considers to be beautiful...as if you could place a price on Shakespeare or a price-tag on Emily Dickinsons' poems.
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Re:An artform. (Score:5, Funny)
as if you could place a price on Shakespeare or a price-tag on Emily Dickinsons' poems.
Shakespeare [amazon.com] : $26.40
Emily Dickinson [amazon.com] : $14.95
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ascetic
Re:An artform. (Score:5, Interesting)
Shakespeare certainly didn't write for art. If he were alive today he'd be Jerry Bruckheimer or Michael Bay. Throughout his life he made a reasonable living producing plays that had large audiences from all levels of society. He wasn't writing for posterity, he was writing to sell tickets, and his plays reflect that: Kings and Queens, forbidden love and betrayal, lots of opportunities for swordfights to be staged, and comedy that still holds up today if performed well.
The only reason he seems like a God among writers is that, because he was popular, his plays survived. He wrote very little that was original in concept; he was constantly borrowing from other, earlier playwrights and from popular stories of the day. The (now) archaic English gives it a patina of high art, but that's our faulty perspective, not his intent.
If that depresses you, it's only because in 500 years, there will be revival companies performing Top Gun and Die Hard rather than Driving Miss Daisy.
Leave him alone (Score:2)
He seems a nice but geeky guy. He loves maths, but doesn't want some prize he never applied for. Good for him. Of course there are plenty that would love to leech off him, 'charity' or not, which is all the more reason not to set himself up as a target by accepting. It will be interesting to see what Grigory comes up with next.
Phillip.
1 million probably isn't worth his effort. (Score:2, Funny)
Here's my theory. He's a genius, a madman and a recluse, as well as everything else people say about him plus one other note: a mushroom farmer. 1$ million probably isn't even worth his time to open the door. "I have all I want" pretty much sums it up. Take your paltry 1$ million and donate it to an appropriate charity. If you really want a minute of his precious time you'll probably have to raise the figure by a couple orders of magnitude.
Can I have it? (Score:2)
I'll do good things with it. Honestly. :-)
Not Married (Score:4, Funny)
He must not be married. If I turned down a mil, my wife would kill me, dig me back up, kill me again, film it all, and sell the film rights to recoup it.
White Elephant (Score:2)
Based on what people are saying wrt to receiving a large sum in Russia, the origin of the phrase "white elephant" [wikipedia.org] comes to mind.
this guy is a great example! (Score:2)
He illustrates PERFECTLY the difference between intelligence and wisdom. He's only got one. *shrug*
That's a Great Idea! (Score:2)
it's more about us, less about him (Score:5, Insightful)
This bit is more about our personal dissatisfaction with our lives, as the readers, having to do things we don't like for money. It's more about a dissatisfaction with the economic system and less about this mathematician, or ex-mathematician. This dissatisfaction leads us to react to any declination of money with shock. The real key to freedom is living with very little and very humbly such that we "work" less and live more enjoyably, where "work" is here defined as any activity done more for money and less for personal enjoyment.
Even Richard M. Stallman himself has suggested this:
"I live like a student, basically. And I like that, because it means that money is not telling me what to do."
-- Richard M. Stallman
http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/fsfs/rms-essays.pdf
Pg. 164
Have they tried reverse psychology? (Score:5, Funny)
Ah, never mind, you're probably not smart enough to take the money.
how about a new price? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Tools (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Tools (Score:4, Insightful)
"Seriously man, take the million."
I suspect that in Russia, as in other places, large amounts of cash, even if given away, attracts the attention of all sorts of unwelcome characters. The government with taxes; receiving the reward leads to paperwork which if not everything is in order can lead to huge repercussions, like jail time. Criminals who will only hear you received a lump sum, not that you gave it away. Reporters who are only bothering you now but will instead be critical of how you spent the money or attack your decison making (why that charity?). Charities for not being on the receiving end of your generosity. Pesky social people wanting to get a piece, such as women or men (depending on how you spin, and maybe the 'or' should be an 'and') showing up, despite you being in a happy relationship already, maybe even disrupting that.
Right now he's an interesting story. If he accepts the million, he's an interesting story and rich, and the additional story of what he does with the million becomes a reality.
Hell, when the economy went to shit here in the US, just look at the nasty backlash online, even here on /.; people were attacking ALL upper class simply because they were rich, not because they had done wrong. It was guilt by association.
Maybe this recluse has his reasons and understands the world far better than you know.
as far as criminals go (Score:2, Interesting)
Isn't he in MORE danger by not accepting the money? Once he has it and gives it away, he can not get it back, so criminals have nothing to extort from him. But as long as he has the ability to collect and doesn't, he's a prime target: "listen, stupid, collect the cash and give it to us, or we'll hurt you and your family".
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suspect that in Russia, as in other places, large amounts of cash, even if given away, attracts the attention of all sorts of unwelcome characters. The government with taxes; receiving the reward leads to paperwork which if not everything is in order can lead to huge repercussions, like jail time.
Not for this guy. If he were to come out of the basement, he could easily become a national hero overnight. The government officials would absolutely love to spin this story - a Russian genius showing the world how things are done! And they could make a stab at China, too, for good measure, and that's always popular.
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...or own a digital watch!?
I dunno, I still think they're a "pretty neat idea".
Mr. Perelman (Score:2)
Re:Mr. Perelman (Score:5, Funny)
Because he is courageous enough to reject $1m. Are you?
No, but I'm so heroic I've managed to reject the temptation to sleep with Natalie Portman. That's WAY more heroic!
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Re:An ordinary man... (Score:4, Informative)
When I use that excuse to justify my interest in Thai prostitutes they call me insane. When I use that excuse on slashdot they call me a troll.