Chapter 56: How Did I Keep Getting More Regretful the More I Talked?

“Nixon himself? Of course you can’t meet him,”

John Morgan shook his head repeatedly:

If it were his own fundraising dinner, you wouldn’t see those amazing segments.

“And if I took you to his personal fundraising banquet, I’d need to prepare at least two hundred thousand dollars in donations.”

“Too expensive and too boring.”

“This campaign dinner is hosted by Robert Finch, Nixon’s assistant and his current presidential campaign manager.”

“He’s a senior member of the Republican Party; he failed to win his last two bids for Congress.”

“Without a personal introduction, no one can attend his fundraising dinners—even if they donate a fortune. Tonight, I’ll take you to see for yourself.”

Lin Ran felt a flicker of anticipation inside—impart, huh.

Room 313, south side, third floor, Columbia University’s administrative building.

Siegel and Horkheimer sat on brown leather single chairs in the Bauhaus style, sunlight streaming through New York’s classic iron-framed windows onto the circular teak coffee table between them.

The light fell precisely on the latest issue of *New Advances in Mathematics* that Siegel had brought, illuminating the name Randolph Lin.

“Max, you bastard, you’ve made me unbearable at Göttingen University.”

“If you’d told me earlier that Randolph proved Fermat’s Conjecture, I wouldn’t be seen as a traitor by my colleagues here—someone who, because he’s retired, no longer cares about Göttingen.”

Before Doering, Siegel was the accused; now before Horkheimer, it was Siegel’s turn to play accuser.

“Sorry, but science knows no borders. Wherever Randolph is, he’s still your student, isn’t he? And a graduate of Göttingen University?” Horkheimer argued:

“His achievements can never be separated from Göttingen’s training of him.”

“Just as philosophers shouldn’t serve the development of specific disciplines, they should guard the negative dimension of thought.”

“Mathematicians work for all humanity, not for any single university. Mathematicians aren’t measurable outputs.”

(“To treat thought as a measurable ‘output’ is precisely the symptom of enlightenment rationality’s self-destruction.” — Max Horkheimer, *Dialectic of Enlightenment*)

Siegel was getting furious: “You bastard.”

Being accused by Doering was bad enough, but what annoyed him more was realizing he was right—and still couldn’t win the argument.

In debate, mathematicians really seemed powerless against philosophers.

“No, this is deception!” Siegel couldn’t take it anymore.

Horkheimer raised an eyebrow: “How is this deception?”

“Is Randolph a mathematical genius? Is he qualified for a Ph.D. in mathematics from Göttingen University?”

When Horkheimer brought Lin Ran to Göttingen, he had guaranteed his merit with his personal reputation.

Because of that reputation, because they were old friends, because they were both German Jews, Siegel had reluctantly agreed.

Siegel fell silent—he simply couldn’t say no. If Randolph wasn’t qualified, then Göttingen University would never have another mathematics Ph.D. graduate.

“No, what I mean by deception is—you never told me the full context.”

“Einstein proposed a unified theory in physics; Randolph proposed a unified theory in mathematics.”

“And compared to Einstein, his greatest advantage is his youth—he’s the most likely mathematician since Gauss to approach Gauss’s level, possibly even realizing the unified theory.”

Siegel took a deep breath and continued: “You never made clear to me that Randolph’s talent isn’t just ‘genius’—it’s beyond that.”

“Mathematical geniuses are countless, but he is unique. In number theory, I can state outright: he is already Gauss.”

“Mathematics has no borders, and its results flow freely—but mathematicians do. If Randolph were at Göttingen, Göttingen could restore the glory Gauss once brought.”

After speaking, Siegel sighed again, trying to comfort himself—fighting with Horkheimer wouldn’t help him bring Randolph back to Göttingen:

“Ah, Max, it’s not your fault. You’re right—Randolph is a Göttingen graduate, and that can’t be changed.”

“Göttingen produced Gauss, Riemann, Hilbert—and now Randolph. That’s not bad.”

“But when he comes back, you must help me persuade him to teach at Göttingen.”

This was why Professor Horkheimer had urgently called him back to campus.

Siegel was waiting.

“Professor, Professor Siegel, good afternoon. These are specialty pastries I brought back from Xiangjiang—please try them.” Lin Ran placed the pastries on the coffee table between them and sat down.

“Good, Randolph, I’ve read your paper—it’s brilliant. Even the ABC Conjecture, the more I think about it, the more fascinating it becomes.”

“Fermat’s Last Theorem can indeed be seen as a consequence of the ABC Conjecture.”

“The fact that certain exponential equations have only finitely many solutions aligns with your ABC Conjecture’s prediction of the sparsity of high-quality triples.”

“The growth of rad(abc) relates to the distribution of prime factors in aaa, bbb, ccc.”

“Your linear forms in logarithms theory can further analyze logarithmic relationships involving prime factors.”

“For certain triples, one can estimate whether the expression log⁡c−log⁡rad(abc) is close to zero; lower bounds can show this closeness is strictly limited, thus supporting your ABC Conjecture’s sparsity claim.”

“Fermat’s Last Theorem, Fermat’s Diophantine Theorem, linear forms in logarithms, and the ABC Conjecture—you’ve woven them into one vast puzzle.”

“From old problems, you’ve extended new ones; from old problems, you’ve distilled new theories.”

“This grand puzzle you’ve built subtly aligns with your Randolph Program.”

“It’s truly magnificent.”

“Mathematicians who solve problems are impressive; those who pose problems are even more so.”

“Why is mathematical lineage important? Because a master guides you—his intuition reveals which problems are ripe for results, then hands those problems to students.”

“It’s like the master points out the minor enemies for you to start with, letting you train gradually from minor foes to bosses—your path is clear.”

“Otherwise, you’d start by fighting the boss—with no skill and no confidence.”

“And fighting minor enemies lets you publish papers, and those papers help you secure an academic position.”

“The journey from minor enemies to bosses also cultivates your top-tier mathematical taste.”

“Following a master gives you stable employment, systematic training, and refined mathematical taste.”

“For a university’s mathematics department, a mathematician of Gauss’s caliber is enough to make it a center of mathematics. Haven’t you seen how the Russian mathematical community absorbed Euler’s work for two centuries?”

In Siegel’s eyes, the man before him—only in his early twenties—was already a mathematician of that caliber.

How the hell did I keep getting more regretful the more I talked? Siegel thought.