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

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GUEST BIO:
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."

[AG-lmuf]

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.

[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.

[dkn]

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 :)

[davidliljewall]

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

[vadim]

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

[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.

[deltasquared]

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

[predelenie]

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.

[BlastinRope]

The current academic system is becoming the catholic church of science

[evanwillenson]

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

[AINMEisONE]

The saddest thing is when people judge others by appearances, believing themselves superior to someone who shines from within. In doing so, they diminish humanity. The true purpose of life is to give selflessly, without expecting anything in return—an immense challenge when activating the centers within the body (3, 7, 9). It is in moments of challenge, overcome with logic, that true clarity emerges. His heart is pure, and when faced with ridicule or disbelief in his work, he chooses to distance himself from those who could harm him. The remaining six have been solved by another, but seeing this, he chooses not to share, for it holds the mathematics to understand Creation itself... "there is more gold given inside when you empty the mind which is the outside" Javy RA

[Todd_plays_poker]

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

Perelman: “I know.”

[raffeisen]

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

[saulberardo]

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

[MahomedNouh]

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

[bernardofitzpatrick]

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

[womslearnenglish]

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

[shortError]

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!!