Math is still catching up to the genius of Ramanujan

Cognitive enhancement and “making people smart”

• Several comments ask why society doesn’t pursue strong intelligence‑boosting drugs.
• Others note we already use many: caffeine, ADHD meds, modafinil, nicotine, and a wide range of “nootropics,” though evidence and safety are mixed.
• Lifestyle factors (sleep, exercise, diet, sobriety/“straight edge”) are repeatedly described as more powerful and sustainable than drugs.
• Concerns include addiction, anxiety, severe but rare side effects, interaction with other stimulants, and unequal access (rich widening advantages, “Ozempic for brains”).
• Some propose gene or RNA therapies as a more promising long‑term route than classic drugs.

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Education systems, specialization, and lost geniuses

• Strong tension between broad, compulsory curricula vs early specialization:
  • One side: broad exposure is essential; the real danger is never encountering a field that could “click.”
  • Other side: schools and admissions over‑reward being “OK at everything,” under‑reward being exceptional at one thing, and turn into “mediocrity factories.”
• Many anecdotes of students brilliant in math or CS but blocked by poor grades in unrelated subjects, or by rigid general‑education requirements.
• Others defend general education (especially writing, humanities, ethics) as crucial for communication, economic awareness, and citizenship, not just jobs.
• Debate over standardized tests: some see them as a fair, high‑ceiling filter; others point to coaching industries, socioeconomic bias, and gaming of both grades and tests.
• Strong sense that opportunity, mentoring, parenting, and environment matter at least as much as innate talent.

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Nature of Ramanujan’s genius and intuition

• Fascination with how he produced deep results, sometimes reported as coming in dreams or from divine inspiration.
• Several commenters argue this is romanticized: he spent enormous time studying advanced books and doing “grunt work,” then only wrote down final identities.
• Others frame his creativity as extreme pattern recognition built on massive prior input, analogous to neural networks or unconscious “offline” processing during sleep.
• Some see him as a statistical outlier (1‑in‑many‑millions); optimizing systems for such extremes is viewed as impractical for mass education.

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Indian science and representation

• Multiple posts wish more Indian mathematicians and scientists (beyond Ramanujan) were widely known, and share resources highlighting them.
• Observation that even in the West, very few scientists of any background become true “household names.”
• Discussion touches on caste, colonialism, and how many potential “Ramanujans” likely never had access to education, or today end up in narrow commercial roles.

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Mathematical legacy and ongoing work

• Commenters highlight how Ramanujan’s partition identities and the Rogers–Ramanujan work still drive current research.
• A recent paper applying McMahon partition functions to primality testing is mentioned; readers wonder how it compares to existing tests and whether it will have cryptographic use, but no clear consensus emerges.

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Resources and cultural impact

• Numerous recommendations: biographies, documentaries, talks, original notebooks online, popular‑math videos, and Hardy’s A Mathematician’s Apology.
• Many express awe at Ramanujan’s achievements and sadness at his short life, often musing about “what might have been” had he lived longer or been discovered earlier.