Re: rant on the morality of confidentiality

[dlv@bwalk.dm.com (Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM)]

"Vladimir Z. Nuri" <vznuri@netcom.com> writes:

> the mathematical establishment does not look with favor on Gauss'
> secrecy. the commentary is generally that it is a shame he was
> so secret and lost credit for his accomplishments. by the way,

My commentary is that if he had made an effort to disseminate even more of
his work during his lifetime, then they would have spawned more research
sooner, and he would have gotten feedback which would have refined his
ideas even further, and that would be good for the mathematics in general.

> I don't agree that publishing is merely about getting credit, although
> because humans are egotistical, that can be a powerful motivator.

Economic motivation is the best.  Right now a lot of good mathematical
research is kept proprietary because it has practical applications
(whether in cryptograpy or finance or some other industry). Publishing
in peer-reviewed jounrnals is a pain in the ass and the only people who
go through with it are colege professors seeking a tenure or a promotion.

The reason why patents were invented was to encourage inventors to
publish their inventions rather than keeping them a trade secret;
eventually the patent would expire and the new knowledge would
benefit everyone.

I wish I saw an economic incentive for folks working in the industry
(including the NSA et al), and the tenured professors to publish.

> you refer to science in a narrow sense of merely constructing things.
> this is not the sense of science that is of crucial importance to
> humanity as a whole. the atom bomb was in some ways a serious regression
> of the collective human condition.

Woulx you have liked it better if Truman gassed the japs?

> this is all so easy, refuting Timmy's feeble grasp of science, that
> I might soon quit. unless I get the sense (which I have a finely honed
> detector) that his veins are popping,
> in which case I'll post a few treatises on the subject.

Is that all that it takes?  Maybe I should post more often.

> >Have they begun torturing you with the snakes of Medusa yet?

Timmy sounds like Janos Bolyai, who claimed that Lobachevsky was not a
real person, but a tentacle of Gauss.

---

<a href="mailto:dlv@bwalk.dm.com">Dr.Dimitri Vulis KOTM</a>
Brighton Beach Boardwalk BBS, Forest Hills, N.Y.: +1-718-261-2013, 14.4Kbps