The social fabric that produces math got ripped up by marketing guys who didn't even bother to check their work.
He described it at 'strip mining', 'rude', and said that many grad students, who are given problems like these as a part of their training, had the rug pulled out from under them (because its customary to let people know you are working on something to prevent this kind of thing).
And your whole analysis is that Tao is worried about his 'identity', status, and 'being a differentiator'.
This is projection on your part. People have values that bear no resemblance to yours and it would behoove you to learn to recognize that.
He described it at 'strip mining', 'rude', and said that many grad students, who are given problems like these as a part of their training, had the rug pulled out from under them (because its customary to let people know you are working on something to prevent this kind of thing).
And your whole analysis is that Tao is worried about his 'identity', status, and 'being a differentiator'.
This is projection on your part. People have values that bear no resemblance to yours and it would behoove you to learn to recognize that.