Well, it is also democratic in the sense that what convinces the mathematical community is what matters, and there’s no ‘President of Mathematics’ or ‘Academie de la Mathematique’ laying down the rules, but yes, ‘meritocratic’ is closer to what I meant.
I think a better term might be ‘meritocratic’, and not ‘democratic’. Unless mathematicians vote on mathematics?
Well, it is also democratic in the sense that what convinces the mathematical community is what matters, and there’s no ‘President of Mathematics’ or ‘Academie de la Mathematique’ laying down the rules, but yes, ‘meritocratic’ is closer to what I meant.
Well, “democratic” strongly suggests a majority vote, and it’s not like something that convinces 54% of the mathematicians who read it ‘wins’.