Timeline for Is it worthwhile to give off-topic talks?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
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| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Dec 6, 2013 at 4:08 | history | made wiki | Post Made Community Wiki by Todd Trimble | ||
| Dec 6, 2013 at 3:53 | comment | added | Ellie K | @NateEldredge Good point. That is why the excerpted Arnold passage is more wit than advice. In another paragraph, he describes his notion of Russian intelligentsia, especially mathematicians, who work without any regard for compensation. That paper was dated 1997, but I'm guessing that he alluded to a more umm, planned economy than exists in the U.S. or Russia now. I agree with you, that it is essential that a grad student be able to get a decent job, any job. Arnold is brilliant, verbally fluent, but it reads more like a literary magazine (sardonic commentary) than typical AMS material. | |
| Dec 6, 2013 at 3:39 | comment | added | Nate Eldredge | To clarify, is your advice "Stop going to conferences altogether, whether they seem to be relevant or not"? I think that's beyond the scope of the question (which is about apparently unrelated conferences only). Moreover, whether it's good for mathematics in the long run or not, it's extremely bad advice in the short run for a grad student who wants to get a job. | |
| Dec 6, 2013 at 0:33 | comment | added | Patrick I-Z | @Joël Yes, I am not surprised, I know his tendency to bash french school. I can testify also. But I used to know the guy a little bit. I don't elaborate on these personal stuffs. He was a passionate mathematician and he did a lot to pull good students into mathematics. He had his temper, and I know how sometimes it was difficult to deal with him. I see him as some father for how much he (and my advisor) influenced my career in mathematical physics. May he rest in peace. אמן | |
| Dec 6, 2013 at 0:14 | comment | added | Joël | ... lest he will be seen as a "fayot" (how does one say that in english, btw?) This was pretty awkward. But then the rest of the class went well and everyone learnt a lot with Arnold. However after that I heard Arnold giving, in talks and even in writing in the journal of the SMF, the example of those questions for his favorite theme of how bad our French mathematical education, and awful Bourbaki, etc. | |
| Dec 6, 2013 at 0:03 | comment | added | Joël | @Patrick: I know. I took a class with Arnold on singularity theory when I was a student in Paris and I loved it. And I know he is a great mathematician, whom I admire. But already back when I was a student in Paris, I found that his chauvinism (I don't see how else I could call it) was annoying, and an impediment to his intelligence. For example, in one of the first class he kept asking very elementary questions of linear algebra to the audience. I think everyone there knew perfectly well the answer, but no one answered | |
| Dec 5, 2013 at 23:00 | comment | added | Patrick I-Z | @Joël Arnold was a complex guy. Don't judge the book by the cover. | |
| Dec 5, 2013 at 22:59 | comment | added | Patrick I-Z | I don't know... If you are looking for honors, flowers, career... then work the american way. If you want to be happy with what you do and do what makes you happy, work the russian way. | |
| Dec 5, 2013 at 22:58 | comment | added | Joël | The problem with Arnold is that he put clever things into anti-american (or even more often, anti-french) bullshit. | |
| Dec 5, 2013 at 21:36 | comment | added | anonymous | This Arnol'd quote has appealed to me ever since I first read it. I still haven't figured out the real purpose of conferences, and I'm beginning to think I never will -- they just don't seem to me to be an effective way to do or communicate mathematics. Still, I am worried that adopting that attitude will not have a positive impact on my career (at American universities). | |
| Dec 5, 2013 at 21:26 | review | First posts | |||
| Dec 5, 2013 at 21:39 | |||||
| Dec 5, 2013 at 21:06 | history | answered | An anonymous user | CC BY-SA 3.0 |