Back in calc 1, i was studying for an exam with a classmate and we were working on the review sheet, which had about 10 problems of some tricky derivatives and l’hopital problems.
My classmates roommate came in, this middle aged Indian guy who was a stock trader, former software engineer. He had this very “i’m pretty smart” air about him, and he would chat with us sometimes.
He sat down and asked us what we were doing, I sighed with a tone that said “this crap is annoying take a look”. So i handed him the paper, and he blankly stared at it for a full 10 seconds.
He then dramatically looked at me and leaned in, and said (read this with a strong Indian accent) “I have a friend back home, if you gave this to him, he would solve the whole thing in 30 seconds.”
I was like wow amazing, but in my mind i was like “cool story bro :lol:”
money has no real value. it says something about the direction of humanity when the big story isnt that he solved this massive math problem but that he didnt take the reward. money has no real value.
I enjoyed the New Yorker article. It’s funny to me that people can’t understand his logic. The New Yorker article definately spells out an understanding of his logic much more. Honestly, I don’t think we need to understand it. He solved a problem no one else had solved and he gave us a quote for the ages.
The inability of people to comprehend the situation in this thread is a consequence of the neglect to understand other societies/culture. Americans are taught to finish high school and then gtfo whereas other cultures are more centered on family. Also, mushroom and berry picking is an outdoor hobby in Russia, which is more fun, more active, and takes more skill than fishing. You can laugh at some one going mushroom picking but someone can similarly laugh at Americans being retarded tackling each other in a game they call American Football.
This dude solved the problem, and instead of giving him respect, they took a shit on him because they didn’t know shit. They were the real idiots, and by the time they could verify, they went to the dude with a million, and the dude was like go fuck yourself.
Honor is not something people in the US understand.
The “smart” thing here seems to be:
Get Money.
Fuck Bitches.
Smoke Trees.
Typical savant. Those folks can be borderline retard but have 1 special ability that they PWN.
In 2001 I became a member of Mensa and OMG have I seen some ‘special’ folks there…
OH YES, all us stupid Americans, how inferior we are to the rest of the world, with our honor-less ways.
Get your head out of your Japanese blow-up doll’s ass and realize that other country’s shit stinks too. Your romantic, idealized version of other countries is the furthest thing from reality.
ok just because you or a handful of people dont fit that mold doesnt make it a blanket statement. the “majority” of people. it will be highly unlikely to find an instance where it is 100% always true so stop frontin’
You need someone smart enough to answer the question, while simultaneously not being a DUMB FUCK to not take the money. Looks like we’ll have to wait another x amount of years for someone with the combination to come through.
Excepting the million probably doesn’t fit into the equation :bgrin:. People throw around the term genius too often. These exceptional mathematicians are geniuses in the truest sense though. What can’t be described in numbers?