Re: JSH: Math society against amateurs

From: David Kastrup (dak_at_gnu.org)
Date: 01/18/05 

Date: Tue, 18 Jan 2005 14:15:02 +0100

jstevh@msn.com writes:

> My latest research is on factoring integers.

Finger exercises are not research.

> But if you do much of an Internet search you will be told that I am
> a math crank claiming to have proven Fermat's Last Theorem.

One does not need to be "told". That _is_ your posting history.

> Also, consider that as of now I have a paper,

Which has been refuted in detail, pointing out the mistakes directly
as well as with counterexamples.

> and a really basic Java program implementing my factoring research
> showing that it DOES factor, though at this point my program doesn't
> factor everything, and I don't know exactly why.
>
> Basic research is needed.

You got that one right. Without even looking at the basics, you'll
get nowhere.

> But I've checked. Most mathematicians haven't even heard of me. Or
> couldn't care less about what I say on Usenet. They just don't keep
> up with sci.math, as it's not like they think much of Usenet or this
> newsgroup.

Well, of course. Why would anybody hear of somebody that repeatedly
makes a fool of himself on a public media and does not even get the
most basic things right? And refuses to have counterexamples register
on him like a three-year old, "lalala, I can't see you".

> That's easy to explain with ideas that have no practical value, but
> here we're talking about factoring.

Yes. And there are ideas that have no practical value also in
factoring.

> Supposedly, mathematicians care about factoring, and you should if
> you have any sense as THEY claim it's such a hard problem to factor
> large numbers that the world's security can be built on it, but THEY
> also claim to value pure and basic research, but if you'll look
> around you can't find a single amateur mathematician being noted.
>
> The professional mathematicians claim that's because there are none
> worth noting.

Wrong.

> They claim that all the mathematics reachable by an amateur has been
> found and that only the professionals can now make major results.

Wrong. But what they claim is that it is highly unlikely that new
results will be found by a gibbering idiot that does not actually
expose himself to the basics of the material he is presuming to be
talking about.

With your abilities and most particular your attitude, you would not
have discovered anything new 2000 years ago, and you don't now.

It is not the status of an amateur that is defeating you. It is the
status of a deliberate ignoramus, liar and jackass. 

-- 
David Kastrup, Kriemhildstr. 15, 44793 Bochum