Petty mathematicians

jstevh_at_msn.com
Date: 02/03/05 

Date: 3 Feb 2005 04:22:49 -0800

I've discovered that today's mathematicians don't care about how
important a mathematical discovery is, how dramatic or "beautiful" the
proof, if their social agenda is not advanced.

When considering mathematical results, they look FIRST and foremost to
social impact.

A side result of this behavior is that there are no amateur
mathematicians today of note.

If you look in the history books you see important amateur
mathematician, but in today's high tech world where information flows
at rapid speeds around the world, there are NO amateur mathematicians
of note.

With over six billion people, and advanced educational systems,
computers and libraries, expertise distributed on a large scale, today
there are no amateur mathematicians of note.

I suggest to you that mathematicians who are high in the social order
of that society refuse to note work from outside of their small group.

I've given a dramatic example with my prime counting function and the
Wikipedia.

I am an amateur mathematician forced to mainly talk mathematics on
Usenet, not becauae I really like Usenet, but because mainstream
mathematicians block.

Repeatedly people have told me that I should get a math degree, learn
their rules, work to appease mathematicians, and basically kiss ass to
get my work accepted.

That in and of itself is an indication of how corrupt the society has
become, as the idea of an amateur mathematician forced to become a
professional, and follow arbitrary social rules to get correct results
accepted should scare you.

There is a role for amateurs in mathematics, while the party line is
that mathematics is too hard at this point and too difficult for
amateurs to have an impact.

The reality is that today's professional mathematicians simply refuse
to acknowledge results from amateur mathematicians, without regard to
its value.

James Harris

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