Home | Notifications | New Note | Local | Federated | Search | Logout
Note Detail
Reply to @TonyVladusich@mathstodon.xyz
John Carlos Baez@johncarlosbaez@mathstodon.xyz (2026-09-24 18:14:37)
@TonyVladusich - Unfortunately for you, the board consists of 9 highly respected mathematicians. So their reputations may get incinerated by their choice to participate, but they won't simply be brushed off by the mathematics community: they'll be taken seriously by many, at least at first.
They were smart enough to start by asking for suggestions on how to proceed. This is why I suggested that they democratize this business instead operating as self-appointed leaders.
Then mathematicians can argue it out, and maybe our opinions will have more effect.
---Reply---
Virginicus@Virginicus@universeodon.com (2026-09-25 08:45:03)
@johncarlosbaez @TonyVladusich Nine powerful Men were given special status by someone desiring power over all the world. I’ve read this book; We should make them wear black robes.
Reply
---Replies---
Tony Vladusich@TonyVladusich@mathstodon.xyz (2026-09-25 08:55:24)
@Virginicus @johncarlosbaez
Ha! I'm sure none of them have read about the "power structures" of organisations, academia included:
The theme that underlies all Foucault's work is the relationship between power and knowledge, and how the former is used to control and define the latter. What authorities claim as 'scientific knowledge' are really just means of social control. Foucault shows how, for instance, in the eighteenth century 'madness' was used to categorize and stigmatize not just the mentally ill but the poor, the sick, the homeless and, indeed, anyone whose expressions of individuality were unwelcome.
— Philip Stokes, Philosophy: 100 Essential Thinkers (2004)[188]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Foucault