Thread

1. youoy · 1789812208 · focus · HN ↗

   Part of the controversy here is that now the skill advantage that some Field Medalist had is much narrower. The fact that fields medals have an age limit implies that it favors brain power over understanding. And that was the guiding light award of the community. So i find it "funny" (and natural) when they are offended by AI. That is the main "crisis" of mathematics.

   In my opinion there has never been a better time to be a mathematitian, and there has never been a better time to be a software builder.

   But there has never been a worst time to have the need to prove your economic value as a mathematitian or software developer alone. Because "understanding" is not something you can prove in one afternoon, its something that you prove with a life.

   1. sweezyjeezy · 1789813173 · focus · HN ↗

      > In my opinion there has never been a better time to be a mathemetician...

      As an ex-mathematician I assure you this is very wrong, and every working mathematician I know right now is completely miserable, and/or trying to flee the field as fast as possible. It's like telling a chair-maker during the industrial revolution that there had never been a better time for them, since now they could operate chair-making machines instead of toiling away at the wood themselves. It assumes that they were purely in it for their passion for mass-producing chairs. The majority of mathematicians get into the field because they love problem solving, and the gauntlet thrown down by challenging math tasks.

      Many parts of this will never be useful for society on a grander scale - but this is reflected in the finances - pure math is closer in funding-terms to a humanity than to hard science. Now even this is _massively_ under threat, and Tao and co need to pivot quickly to stop this from becoming a bloodbath.

      1. youoy · 1789814561 · focus · HN ↗

         Im an ex mathematitian too. And if i was in academia I would probably have the same reaction. Thats what i say that its the worst time for proving economic value.

         But if you are in for theory building and understanding, then you are not constrained anymore by your motivation to grind through countless hours of formal theorem proving. And you do not need to have superhuman formal manipulation skills and memory.

         For me mathematics is not the formal system, so LLMs will never be able to do end to end maths.

         1. lapinot · 1789900758 · focus · HN ↗

            The practice of "theory building" is especially endangered by the current LLM uptake. Not because LLMs are good at it, because they are bad at it. Worse, they sometimes actively hinder theory building, because it usually rests on actually having deep experience with some techniques: 1: you do something over and over, 2: it becomes a second nature, you just get the feel for it, 3: you intellectualize this intuitive understanding, 4: you discover a new structure, or a better way to express/teach/learn/use an existing one.

            Theory building was always kind of niche, or at least less prestigious (in comparison with solving well-known problems). Now, because the mad problem solvers are pulling on the blanket so much harder, the marginalization is getting worse.

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