At least as far as math is concerned, people not in academia can publish papers. As for the Polymath blog, I’d actually estimate that you are at about the level of most Polymath contributors, although most of the impressive work there seems to be done by a small fraction of the people there.
I have no fetish for publishing papers or having an impressive CV or whatever. The important things, for me, are these: I want to have meaningful discussions about my areas of interest, and I want my results to be useful to somebody. I have received more than a fair share of “thank yous” here on LW for clearing up mathy stuff, but it feels like I could be more useful… somewhere.
At least as far as math is concerned, people not in academia can publish papers. As for the Polymath blog, I’d actually estimate that you are at about the level of most Polymath contributors, although most of the impressive work there seems to be done by a small fraction of the people there.
About Polymath: thanks! (blushes)
I have no fetish for publishing papers or having an impressive CV or whatever. The important things, for me, are these: I want to have meaningful discussions about my areas of interest, and I want my results to be useful to somebody. I have received more than a fair share of “thank yous” here on LW for clearing up mathy stuff, but it feels like I could be more useful… somewhere.