Prize allotment in case of death?

[JuanTutors]

I just made a comment in another thread about what happens in case someone dies before a test or double check is completed. Given that 100M digit LL tests and double checks together currently take 8 to 9 years (or significantly more) to complete, the probability of dying after you've completed a LL test with a positive result and passing away before the double check is done is very real.

Maybe we should create a policy to decide what happens in case the person performing a test dies before a double check is completed.

Here is my suggestion, in case the that the result is positive and the original tester passes away before the LL test is completed:

1. The prize money goes to the person's living widow/widower.
2. If the above person doesn't exist, the prize money all goes to the person's living children, split equally among them.
3. If the above people don't exist, the money all goes to the person's living grand children, split equally among them.
4. If the above people don't exist, the money all goes to the person's living parents.
5. If no parents are alive, the money all goes to the person's living grand parents.
6. If no grand parents are alive, the money all goes to a math scholarship fund in the person's name.

[TimSorbet]

Wouldn't it be easier to just treat it like any of the person's other possessions/assets, to be handled as their country's laws and their wills dictate?

[cheesehead]

I agree with Mini-Geek: just let the existing laws take care of it.

Perhaps we should simply remind^* folks who undertake a long Lucas-Lehmer test that they may wish to update their wills to take care of the circumstance of their (estate's) winning a prize. That might be the best warning about how long the test will take.

- - -

^* - George, how about adding a little reminder wherever the documentation talks about tests taking more than a year? ("... and update your will, in case you win a money prize posthumously.")

[mdettweiler]

Quite frankly, I would assume that the prize would simply go to whoever has been bequeathed the winning computer. After all, the prize rightfully belongs to whoever owns that computer that finds the prime; the bequeathee would then own the computer, including all primes found since he was granted that ownership.

Note also that in the case of a purported prime, doublechecks are NOT handled according to the usual, rather slow procedure. Multiple doublechecks are run in parallel on big-iron hardware that could probably finish a 100M digit test in a few months (not years). So the total 8-9 years you mentioned it would take for a positive result to be found and confirmed would in actuality be more like 1-2 (assuming a fast machine running the initial firstpass test).

[NBtarheel_33]

Originally Posted by mdettweiler

Quite frankly, I would assume that the prize would simply go to whoever has been bequeathed the winning computer. After all, the prize rightfully belongs to whoever owns that computer that finds the prime; the bequeathee would then own the computer, including all primes found since he was granted that ownership.

Note also that in the case of a purported prime, doublechecks are NOT handled according to the usual, rather slow procedure. Multiple doublechecks are run in parallel on big-iron hardware that could probably finish a 100M digit test in a few months (not years). So the total 8-9 years you mentioned it would take for a positive result to be found and confirmed would in actuality be more like 1-2 (assuming a fast machine running the initial firstpass test).

You'll see some of the biggest iron you've ever seen if GIMPS finds a 100Md prime - probably could get time on one of the world's fastest-available supercomputers...

[Uncwilly]

Originally Posted by mdettweiler

Quite frankly, I would assume that the prize would simply go to whoever has been bequeathed the winning computer. After all, the prize rightfully belongs to whoever owns that computer that finds the prime; the bequeathee would then own the computer, including all primes found since he was granted that ownership.

If the prime is found while the OP is alive, the prize money goes to the estate to be handled as the will/courts dictate. It is the person and not the machine that wins the money. If the OP dies, and the heir that obtains the computer continues running Prime95, (knowingly or not) (even just for the last iteration) they are the rightful prize winner.

[mdettweiler]

Originally Posted by Uncwilly

If the prime is found while the OP is alive, the prize money goes to the estate to be handled as the will/courts dictate. It is the person and not the machine that wins the money. If the OP dies, and the heir that obtains the computer continues running Prime95, (knowingly or not) (even just for the last iteration) they are the rightful prize winner.

Yes, indeed--that was what I was trying to say. (What I was referring to addressed only the case in which the owner of a computer died while it was still in the process of calculating the winning LL test.)