Every odd number greater than five is the sum of three primes

Re:Every odd number greater than five is the sum of three pr... by AndrewDucker on Tuesday May 14, 2013 @05:56AM (#5703860)

1) Some people enjoy researching it. Therefore it adds to their lives.

2) Some people enjoy knowing about it. The researchers therefore add to these people's lives too.

3) Pure research frequently turns out to have an application later - numerous branches of pure mathematics later turn out to have applications. New knowledge is added to the toolkit we can use to understand the world.

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Re:Every odd number greater than five is the sum of three pr... by brey on Tuesday May 14, 2013 @07:13AM (#5704097)

entirely in agreement with 3)

I know you were answering the question as written, but IMO 1) and 2) are out of place in a discussion about 'value', with the implied context of 'and why are we spending public money on this useless rubbish?'.

you may as well replace 'learning about number theory' with 'windsurfing'. sure, it adds to their lives, but it's only the public good that has an impact on the discussion.

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Re:Every odd number greater than five is the sum of three pr... by JabavuAdams on Tuesday May 14, 2013 @09:33AM (#5704684)

Why do we build concert halls and stadiums? There's this thing called "culture"... It's hard to define, but you know when it's missing.

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Re:Every odd number greater than five is the sum of three pr... by saraid216 on Tuesday May 14, 2013 @05:56PM (#5708602)

(Note, the original question was deleted, so I can't see context.)

The public good most certainly includes the good of the people doing it, though. The notion that those who act on behalf of the public good must commit a sacrifice of their own, individual good is simply wrong.

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