Re: Sociological/Psychological Phenomenon

Well I would say historical precedent for one, following the example of
Fermat and Ramanujan. Moreso, I think anyone with a strong interest in
mathamatics has uncovered some little tidbit on their one. For example
when playing around with continued fractions on my own time one day I
found that the ratio of the n+1th fibonacci number divided by the nth
fibonacci number gave the golden ratio. It's a well known result but I
still managed to stumble across it on my own and that gave me a feeling
of success.

Also I feel your surgery example is flawed, since math is a purely
intellectual excersise while surgery requires hands-on competence.
Something about the purity of thought leads people to believe they've
accomplished a 'perfect' experiements without realizing that rigor is
important as well, and that our thoughts are as fallable as practical
experiementation sometimes. I think most people stuggle with finding
their own flaws - I know that's why I get others to proof read my work!

Moreso, mathamatics has a reputation for being infallable, and even
creative and correct geniuses like Cantor have come under sever
persecution in their lifetime. I think many cranks see themselves in a
similar position, even if they're wrong and they feel the need to get
very defensive, and ignore the criticism of those who are in a position
to help them and are honestly trying to give them the best possible
feedback.
Received on Thu Sep 29 21:39:21 2005