Reputation distortions?

[Rich Graves]

snow wrote:
> 
> > I'm not saying that Gauss *didn't* discover the normal distribution. 
> > I'm saying that he didn't have to *prove* he did. Of course not. He 
> > was the greatest mathematician of his time, and probably since.
> > I'd call the event a reputation distortion.[...]
>      If Gauss had been called on it, what would have happened? If the 
> caller could _prove_ he was lying, what then? He still would have been 
> the greatist mathmatician of the time, but he would have been seen as 
> a liar and a crackpot. We know how that works don't we.

No.

I think the more common case is "the rich get richer, the poor get 
poorer." The truth is insufficent when honesty puts you at a 
disadvantage.

-rich