‹ BackHN Continuity

Thread

How do we prevent mathemathics from devolving into the Medieval Era of secrecy?

158 points · 146 comments · jjgreen

  1. lacker · · focus · HN ↗
    I have seen two worries recently:

    1. People will publish so much frontier mathematics, humans won't be able to understand it all

    2. Frontier mathematics will all be kept secret

    Fortunately, these seem like they can't both happen at once.

    1. thaumasiotes · · focus · HN ↗
      That's also what the gerrymandering discourse is like. Gerrymandering is a threat to civilization because it means political parties will minimize their electoral margins, and because it means politicians will maximize their electoral margins.
      1. watwut · · focus · HN ↗
        Like yeah, result is that one group politicians are minimized and others maximized.

        Which makes total sense unlike the "too much frontier math" nonsense.

        1. thaumasiotes · · focus · HN ↗
          > Like yeah, result is that one group politicians are minimized and others maximized.

          Which groups are those?

          1. watwut · · focus · HN ↗
            The whole point of gerrymandering is to split districts so that votes for the other party are diluted. The whole point is to create many districts where your party is majority and then a few districts for the rest of the opposition.

            If you are good at it, end result is that minority can keep majority of the seats and power. So, as there are two parties, the groups are "likely to voted republicans" and "likely to vote democrats".

            1. thaumasiotes · · focus · HN ↗
              So... you just didn't bother reading the second half of my sentence?

              According to you, there is no discourse about politicians using gerrymandering to give themselves safer seats.

Open on Hacker News to reply ↗

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.