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Preliminary Idea for Exposition Paper

Many Mathematicians and people in the academia agree on a few important unsolved problems in Mathematics, and most of these have been around for centuries. Seven of these problems have been listed as the Clay Millennium Prize Problems by the Clay Mathematics Institute --- anyone who can solve the problem will be awarded a million US dollars by the institute on top of all the glory and honour. The seven problems include (from Wikipedia - Millennium Prize Problems)

1. P versus NP problem
2. Hodge conjecture
3. Poincaré conjecture
4. Riemann hypothesis
5. Yang–Mills existence and mass gap
6. Navier–Stokes existence and smoothness
7. Birch and Swinnerton-Dyer conjecture

Grigori Perelman proved the Poincaré Conjecture in 2003. Subsequently, he declined the million dollar prize from the institute, and the Field's Medal, which is considered the Nobel Prize equivalent for Mathematics.

In my paper, I intend to investigate what a prize really mean by looking at the case of Grigori Perelman. I intend to discuss prizes serving as the following:

• The recognition of the receiver
• The recognition of the receiver's work
• The receiver's recognition of the prize body
• Randerson from The Guardian wrote

  "He has also refused a major European maths prize, supposedly on the grounds that he did not believe the committee awarding the prize was sufficiently qualified to judge his work."

• Whether a prize even serves as a recognition of one's work, or if it is actually redundant
• Grigori famously said, "Everybody understood that if the proof is correct, then no other recognition is needed."

I intend to read Masha Gessen's book on Grigori (Perfect Rigor: A Genius and the Mathematical Breakthrough of the Century), as well as various commentaries or papers on the Millennium Prize, Field's Medal, and to search for any other rejections of prestigious prizes and the reasons behind them.


Cast in the form of the template:
I want to study Grigori Perelman's rejection of the Millennium Prize to learn about what the acceptance of a prize means, because this will shed light on the dynamics of the prize body and receiving party to give new insights on the existence of prizes.

The Russian Olympiad and what it all means

Statute 3.1.4 of the International Astronomy Olympiad (IAO) states

The Olympiad has to be organized only in town (settlement, city) with working astronomical research centres: observatories, astronomical institutes or universities with a considerable astronomical department. Other places for the Olympiad are not appropriate. At least once every three years the Olympiad has to be organized by an astronomical research centre of the historical territory of the Astronomy Olympiads (Russian Federation, Crimea or Moscow land).

In that sense, the IAO is essentially a competition that is under the control of Russia. The IAO is one of the many academical Olympiads held yearly for high school students to have a healthy competition against each other. The IAO is similar to the rest of the Olympiads, other than the field involved, except for the fact that it requires that the competition is to be held in the historical territory of the Olympiads at least once every three years. The IAO has been in existence since 1996.

Another Astronomy Olympiad in existence today is the International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA). This Olympiad does not impose a condition of returning the organizing power to any body or country. It is only set up in recent years, with the inaugural event in 2007.

I wish to develop along the idea of the "monopoly" of the Russians on the IAO using James English's chapter as a lens to see why this Olympiad is set up and the possible benefits it can bring to the federation. I will bring other Olympiads into the discussion and give some attention to the IOAA using Danesi's article as another lens to show how we interpret the establishment of the IOAA as a form of rebellion against the Russian IAO.

Coherent movement --- by anonymous

From what I know, the roots of Anonymous trace all the way back to Japan --- 2chan (2channel).

2chan is a Japanese internet forum where people can post anonymously, with the motive of sharing instead of claiming. American Christopher Poole wanted an English equivalent and out came 4chan.

Like-minded people from all around the world have been gathering at 4chan to contribute anonymously for what they claim to be the greater good. Many interesting internet memes, like the Lolcats, originated from within 4chan. Authors and creators have not left their names or affiliations on the memes; the memes existed merely to entertain. The myriad of talents and interest around the world (in the context of anonymous contributors) work much like the concept behind torrents --- an idea pops up (a torrent seed), and input flows in from anyone who has something to share (whoever has the file the seed requests will send the file concurrently with similar others to the requester). In this way concepts, ideas, and memes build on itself in a coherent manner. It is as though small ripples on the surface of the pond come on from all directions to give a high peak at where they meet in constructive interference.

A similar concept has been adopted by many. Well known examples include sites like Wikipedia (and its spoofs --- Uncyclopedia, Conservapedia, Bulbapedia, etc). Contributors seem not too bothered about who is contributing to the content (as long as the original discoverers or inventors are honoured). Mistakes introduced by contributors are rectified by others in the field. All in all, the contents in Wikipedia converge to a coherent database of knowledge in the recorded history of mankind. Mathematically inclined people may associate this with the Law of Large Numbers. To add on as a bonus, WikiLeaks is another (more or less) underground collective. Its purpose, in contrast to the good nature of Wikipedia, is to expose dirty secrets --- much in line with the dark alley Anonymous.

So what about this group, Anonymous? I see whole concept of a culture to involve a coherent movement of a body. Inasmuch as how the widespread appreciation of Baroque music defined the Baroque artistic culture in the 1600s, the coordinated protests and hacks associated with Anonymous (and similar others like Occupy Wall Street), can define the current working style of our youths. It is a new era where people do not merely abide by whatever laws imposed on them. It is a new era where people can find like-minded peers, and contribute constructively to execute coherently for a greater purpose. It is a new era where new laws are imposed by those above, and objected by an audible synchronized choir from below.

This is not the mass culture that MacDonald talked about. This is not entertainment related, or at least not directly.

Danesi talked about youths 'overthrowing' the old with their rebellious and revolutionary ways. I find his article lines up with the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) protest movements very well. These protests are not just normal protests. These are protests against laws to be imposed onto the use of internet (and to add on, the internet is pretty much a world on its own). Anonymous-led underground protests of various forms showed us a subculture hidden at a corner of the virtual web. These people are Anonymous. They are Legion. They do not forgive. They do not forget. Expect them. The combined voices of people have managed to influence huge corporations like Google, and Wikipedia to join in the online protest against the SOPA.

Perhaps there is only a very thin line separating coherent protest groups like Anonymous from coherent terrorist organizations like the Al Qaeda --- after all, Anonymous executed DDoS attacks on various websites, including those of governmental origins.

With the widespread use of internet, and the ease of reaching out to others with the use of it, like-minded people have managed to get together to share, to plan, and to execute their plans for their common goal. I see it as a new form of underground culture. A new culture not in the familiar terms of entertainment; a new culture not in the context of traditions or art; but a new form of culture that defines the needs of many around us, who will remain anonymous till the end.

Some people are more wrong to win than others

Jonathan Chait wrote an article entitled "The case against awards; Why the wrong person always wins". The article expressed his frustration and argument on why he felt that the prizes were always not given out to the most deserving person. He gave examples from past experiences from his private life to mainstream high profile awards like the MTV awards, Nobel Peace Prize and the U.S. Presidential Medal of Freedom.

I cannot fully agree with his stand, and find him rather unconvincing.

The author tried to impose the notion that the "nature of the awards" was such that undeserving recipients were awarded the prizes more than the deserving ones in the second paragraph. This point was hardly backed up. Although he failed to convince me that all awards were as such, it was successful in showing that he was truly fed up with all the 'rubbish'.

Subsequently he criticized NASA for selecting a teacher, whom he found silly and quirky, as a finalist for a trip on a space shuttle. He mocked NASA by comparing the teacher to the rocket scientists within the organization, whom he supposed were involved in the selection process. Herein lies a critical overlook by the author - NASA is a very big organization with different departments and specialties; surely the selection panel did not compose of the rocket scientists and engineers, but of employees at the administrative departments instead! Perhaps the author knew about this, but his angst blurred his critical analysis of the situation; or perhaps the author just wanted to make a joke out of the whole situation.

The author brought across the topic of subjectivity in giving out prizes. He substantiated this by quoting a finding about the random distribution of prizes in wine, and giving an example of determining the best ice cream flavour. This should be taken with a pinch of salt. No doubt there would always be subjectivity introduced whenever taste is concerned, there would always be some which were generally more preferred to the others. For example, a vomit-flavoured ice cream would definitely not fare well in the market. Also, not all prizes hold subjective components, for certainly recognitions like the Dean's List are definitely entirely objective! I found the author easily generalizing in his favour.

Though I do not fully with what the author is trying to convey, I enjoyed this piece of article because this article has exposed me to some of the many recognitions which are more "grey" than other, and it has shown me some of the various frustrations held by many people who have entangled their emotions to the prizes.

The article where Islam is the biggest star

Gooch wrote an article on New York Times entitled "A Reality Show where Islam is the Biggest Star", which described a reality show promoting Islam in Malaysia. I liked how the author's smart use of words and choice of content captivated me. No doubt most of the glorification of Islam was done by the reality show instead of the author, it was apparent that the author had the same agenda as the producers of the show. The show and religion were glorified. This could be easily seen from the author's decision to include the highlights of the prizes and the fact that it was the "most-watched show ever" on a Malaysian television channel. The author also managed to make religion - a sacred belief to be fearful of - seemed approachable by including soft elements like "hugging competitors" amidst the magnificent like "crisp, dark suits".

I believe that the article is successful in conveying the author’s message.