Except that Ramanujan sent letters (of course) rather than emails; the difference is important because writing letters to N people is a lot more work than sending emails to N people, so getting a letter from someone is more evidence that they’re willing to put some effort into communicating with you than getting an email from them is.
Yes, this is a valid and correct point. The observed and theoretical Nash Equilibrium of the Wittgensteinian language game of maintaining consensus reality is indeed not to engage with cranks who have not Put In The Work in a way that is visible and hard-to-forge.
It’s worth being clear in your mind the distinction between “put in the work” and “ideas that are both clear and correct (or at least promising)”. They’re related, especially work and the clarity of what the idea is, but not the same.
Except that Ramanujan sent letters (of course) rather than emails; the difference is important because writing letters to N people is a lot more work than sending emails to N people, so getting a letter from someone is more evidence that they’re willing to put some effort into communicating with you than getting an email from them is.
Yes, this is a valid and correct point. The observed and theoretical Nash Equilibrium of the Wittgensteinian language game of maintaining consensus reality is indeed not to engage with cranks who have not Put In The Work in a way that is visible and hard-to-forge.
It’s worth being clear in your mind the distinction between “put in the work” and “ideas that are both clear and correct (or at least promising)”. They’re related, especially work and the clarity of what the idea is, but not the same.