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• 3 years - 360 posts - Latest
• Thread: 576 Goods vs 306 No Goods

1. Economist
   0b67
   

   He used to be really smart guy at MIT. What happened?

   Qiaochu Yuan : math PhD at Berkeley
   Evan O'Dorney : math PhD at Princeton
   Will Sawin : math PhD at Princeton + Columbia AP
   Akhil Mathew : math PhD at Harvard

   I believe Qiaochu Yuan dropped out.

   He fell in with the wrong crowd (SFBA “rationalists”), now he’s a life coach or something
   

   QY quit in his 6th year of PhD. Many young prodigies go through the same process: In high school they are the sole superstar of their cohort. In college, they are stars with many equals. In a math PhD program where top talents in the world converge, they are just another good student and not competitive. So, they "lost interest".

   3 years ago # QUOTE 11 Good 3 No Giod !

2. Economist
   390b
   

   Plz, no gossip about these people. I know one personally, he would not enjoy this.

   We are not here to sugarcoat bitter truth or flatter young prodigies who grow up to be just another insignificant adult. This forum is relevant because we do the opposite.

   If they're so insignificant, why are you discussing them? Seriously, GTFO.

   We discuss them as a cautionary tale to upcoming youngsters who are not as good as they think they are.

   3 years ago # QUOTE 3 Good 3 No Giod !

3. Economist
   6b15
   

   Cambridge runs a superb undergrad maths program (at least as strong as Harvard's and Princeton's and some say it is superior), but they can be awful at PhD level. Fields medallist Caucher Birkar works there in algebraic geometry, but colleagues have told me that because of his class and ethnic background he would have been extremely unlikely to have been accepted at Cambridge as an undergraduate, and unlikely to have been accepted for a place on their "Part Three" (masters' program) or as a PhD candidate - and that if he had been accepted he wouldn't have received encouragement.

   This is hilarious nonsense. Undergraduate admission is purely on their estimate of your mathematical ability.

   The idea that they consider personal characteristics / social class is crazy when you look at some of maladjusted alien weirdos who do get accepted.

   3 years ago # QUOTE 5 Good 0 No Giod !

4. Economist
   390b
   

   Cambridge runs a superb undergrad maths program (at least as strong as Harvard's and Princeton's and some say it is superior), but they can be awful at PhD level. Fields medallist Caucher Birkar works there in algebraic geometry, but colleagues have told me that because of his class and ethnic background he would have been extremely unlikely to have been accepted at Cambridge as an undergraduate, and unlikely to have been accepted for a place on their "Part Three" (masters' program) or as a PhD candidate - and that if he had been accepted he wouldn't have received encouragement.

   This is hilarious nonsense. Undergraduate admission is purely on their estimate of your mathematical ability.
   The idea that they consider personal characteristics / social class is crazy when you look at some of maladjusted alien weirdos who do get accepted.

   Agree. Cambridge's undergraduate math program has probably a more fair admission process compared to elite programs in America.

   The tendency of favoring applicants from a certain countries is not necessarily discriminatory. For example, Cambridge regularly admits top high school graduates from Eastern Europe (Hungary, for example) because they have the track record of performing very well after being admitted. Many of those students also came with IMO medals or similar credentials, and were admitted based on objective measures.

   3 years ago # QUOTE 4 Good 1 No Giod !

5. Economist
   b3d5
   

   He fell in with the wrong crowd (SFBA “rationalists”), now he’s a life coach or something

   QY quit in his 6th year of PhD. Many young prodigies go through the same process: In high school they are the sole superstar of their cohort. In college, they are stars with many equals. In a math PhD program where top talents in the world converge, they are just another good student and not competitive. So, they "lost interest".

   He already posted about it on Quora and did say he basically stopped caring: https://www.quora.com/What-is-it-like-to-study-a-subfield-of-Mathematics-deeply-for-many-years/answer/Qiaochu-Yuan-1

   Not sure that it was because of competition though. Seems like he got depressed about his lackluster dating life and it probably made him not care about math anymore based on his tweets from a while back (https://twitter.com/QiaochuYuan/status/1224750631358889984). But honestly I'd have to agree that it's not worth being a top mathematician if it means you have to be single for the rest of your life.

   3 years ago # QUOTE 5 Good 0 No Giod !

6. Economist
   317c
   

   He fell in with the wrong crowd (SFBA “rationalists”), now he’s a life coach or something

   QY quit in his 6th year of PhD. Many young prodigies go through the same process: In high school they are the sole superstar of their cohort. In college, they are stars with many equals. In a math PhD program where top talents in the world converge, they are just another good student and not competitive. So, they "lost interest".

   He already posted about it on Quora and did say he basically stopped caring: https://www.quora.com/What-is-it-like-to-study-a-subfield-of-Mathematics-deeply-for-many-years/answer/Qiaochu-Yuan-1
   Not sure that it was because of competition though. Seems like he got depressed about his lackluster dating life and it probably made him not care about math anymore based on his tweets from a while back (https://twitter.com/QiaochuYuan/status/1224750631358889984). But honestly I'd have to agree that it's not worth being a top mathematician if it means you have to be single for the rest of your life.

   Haha he deleted this twitter post. I saw it on mobile and went on desktop to archive it and now its 404. IIRC it was months old, so apparently someone reads ejmr or tipped him off. It was funny

   3 years ago # QUOTE 3 Good 1 No Giod !

7. Economist
   6ca7
   

   Who are these kids and why does ejmr care about them so much?

   The stench of physics/math envy is overpowering lmao

   3 years ago # QUOTE 3 Good 1 No Giod !

8. Economist
   bb09
   

   Haha he deleted this twitter post. I saw it on mobile and went on desktop to archive it and now its 404. IIRC it was months old, so apparently someone reads ejmr or tipped him off. It was funny

   you lozer

   3 years ago # QUOTE 3 Good 1 No Giod !

9. Economist
   23c9
   

   Cambridge runs a superb undergrad maths program (at least as strong as Harvard's and Princeton's and some say it is superior), but they can be awful at PhD level. Fields medallist Caucher Birkar works there in algebraic geometry, but colleagues have told me that because of his class and ethnic background he would have been extremely unlikely to have been accepted at Cambridge as an undergraduate, and unlikely to have been accepted for a place on their "Part Three" (masters' program) or as a PhD candidate - and that if he had been accepted he wouldn't have received encouragement.

   Birkar's fields medal is widely believed to have been political. You know they are awarded from a certain institute in Toronto, don't you? The temptation of picturing a refugee as a genius was too strong I guess... Now libs will say it's awesome we are importing lawyers, engineers, doctors and Fields medallist from africa and the middle east.

   3 years ago # QUOTE 3 Good 3 No Giod !

10. Economist
    a04b
    

    Birkar's fields medal is widely believed to have been political. You know they are awarded from a certain institute in Toronto, don't you? The temptation of picturing a refugee as a genius was too strong I guess... Now libs will say it's awesome we are importing lawyers, engineers, doctors and Fields medallist from africa and the middle east.

    Mr. Hacon is that you?

    3 years ago # QUOTE 0 Good 1 No Giod !

11. Economist
    f600
    

    Birkar's fields medal is widely believed to have been political. You know they are awarded from a certain institute in Toronto, don't you? The temptation of picturing a refugee as a genius was too strong I guess... Now libs will say it's awesome we are importing lawyers, engineers, doctors and Fields medallist from africa and the middle east.

    Mr. Hacon is that you?

    I don't think Hacon complained? He is way too old, and he's not the one who proved BAB.

    3 years ago # QUOTE 0 Good 0 No Giod !

12. Economist
    23c9
    

    Mr. Hacon is that you?

    People barely knew who he was, lol.

    3 years ago # QUOTE 0 Good 0 No Giod !

13. Economist
    f600
    

    Mr. Hacon is that you?

    People barely knew who he was, lol.

    Birkar? Maybe people who don't know anything about algebraic geometry didn't know who he was. I feel the same way when analysts win.

    3 years ago # QUOTE 0 Good 0 No Giod !

14. Economist
    23c9
    

    Birkar? Maybe people who don't know anything about algebraic geometry didn't know who he was. I feel the same way when analysts win.

    It is questionable whether his contribution called for a fields medal. You don't agree. I'll live with that.

    3 years ago # QUOTE 0 Good 0 No Giod !

15. Economist
    83bc
    

    Qiaochu is happy after he quit the math and I'm happy for him

    3 years ago # QUOTE 3 Good 3 No Giod !

16. Economist
    b047
    

    Will Sawin has two Ann. Math. Strong!

    3 years ago # QUOTE 1 Good 0 No Giod !

17. Economist
    80aa
    

    Will Sawin has two Ann. Math. Strong!

    None of them explains teenager pregnancy. Weak!

    3 years ago # QUOTE 1 Good 2 No Giod !

18. Economist
    3d20
    

    Reminder: will sawin did the phd micro sequence at Yale when he was 13 years old and was the best student in the class

    3 years ago # QUOTE 6 Good 0 No Giod !

19. Economist
    2a8d
    

    Reminder: will sawin did the phd micro sequence at Yale when he was 13 years old and was the best student in the class

    Reminder: grothendieck was hiding in the French forests when he was 13 years old and he survived

    3 years ago # QUOTE 2 Good 2 No Giod !

20. Economist
    63c6
    

    Qiaochu Yuan : math PhD at Berkeley
    Evan O'Dorney : math PhD at Princeton
    Will Sawin : math PhD at Princeton + Columbia AP
    Akhil Mathew : math PhD at Harvard

    I believe Qiaochu Yuan dropped out.

    Qiaochu Yuan made the mistake of not finishing PhD. At least he could have used the degree as a positive signal to help secure a job. Worse, he burned the bridges by blogging about disillusion with math research. Industry would also be reluctant to hire him as a quant, seeing that he is flakey by his own revelation.

    What QY could have done is to negotiate with advisor to reduce the scope and difficulty of the PhD project. Most professors would be willing to compromise just to send an underperformed 6th-year PhD student out of the door, place him in industry and move on.

    3 years ago # QUOTE 4 Good 0 No Giod !

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