>>11560837>Cracking the twin prime conjecture won't help my kids live a better life. >Cracking the twin prime conjecture means nothing for the common man.>Cracking the twin prime conjecture won't start a colony on Mars. It wont cure cancer. Maybe in CSci it could be impactful, but not for the common man.Do you want to spend your life trying to be remembered by a group of academics but by the common man? There are many sacrifices that had to be made, particularly time, to reach the level that TT is at. At some point you need to ask yourself if spending decades to reach that level is somewhat worth it for a power process (Remember the Unabomber?).
>>11560876Exactly what he said. He's a false god. Mathematicians aren't god, they're not the pinnacle of humanity. There's a balance between intelligence, being wise, and being kind to those around you. If you spend all your time being "intelligent", you'll miss out on two other very important aspects of life. Being wise comes from experience (ie getting called a newfag), pain and learning life skills - not book skills.
Mr Rogers did more for the common man than Terrence Tao ever will, and Mr Rogers wasn't a prodigy or a 900 IQ superbeing. You don't NEED to have TT's brain. At some point you should ask yourself WHY you're studying math and what you want to be remembered for.
That being said, I love math and spend hours studying it - but merely because I enjoy it. It shouldn't matter to you that you're not the best at this one thing (math), and it's probably good for yourself that you're not the best mathematician in the world, because even if you were at the top you wouldn't think that in your mind and you'd never ever be satisfied with your level of intelligence - you'd always reach for something unattainable. The moment you start comparing yourself and wanting to reach the level of intelligence of the greats you should stop - because with that mindset even if you get to that point you won't even realize it.
