17 Sep
2008
17 Sep
'08
12:20 a.m.
David Spivak wrote:
I agree with Andre. Encapsulating a group of mathematicians inside a single named entity fosters a kind of collaborative spirit in which good ideas are not kept for personal use later but are shared amongst the community. When ideas are shared in real time, good mathematics can be produced faster. Anyone who wants to join the collective can do so, and the collective produces highly useful material. Of course such an enterprise is orthogonal to name-recognition, and maybe to getting tenure!
A partial solution: those who already have sufficient name recognition should proclaim the value contributed by those without it and especially in support of tenure for them. jim