I consider myself an applied mathematician though technically I’m an economist (macro models, mostly) and operations researcher and differential game theorist (odd combination, but whatever). For context I’m 45 and I’ve spent most of my working life in corporate life.
I’ve always been at a disadvantage academically because I’m rather clumsy with my manipulations, derivations, and I’m a disaster at mental arithmetic. I’m also dyslexic. But starting in the late 1990s when I was in High School I started to become fluent with CAS (Computer Algebra Systems): first Derive, then the Symbolics capabilities of Mathlab, and ultimately Mathematica.
The whole transition is turning out quite well for me: I’m now able to delegate exploring my intuitions to increasingly powerful tools, I no longer have to haul the pyramid blocks up the ramp myself but I can drop them in by helicopter (as if were) and what I bring to the party is intuition and understanding.
I view it a bit like astronomy: in ancient times, before telescopes, keen eyesight was a prerequisite to be an astronomer. Later, after telescopes, anybody with eyesight had enormously enhanced capabilities of observation, and now, with radioastronomy and other forms of remote sensing (neutrino observatories, gravitational interferometers) the whole field has opened up to people who by virtue of being blind would’ve literally been excluded only a few decades ago.
Go forth and multiply: everybody can become a mathematician now. There’s an infinite number of potential universes out there with an infinite number of facts to prove and disprove. And while we’re at it: there’s so much more to mathematics than conjectures, proofs and counterexamples. Solve, model, approximate, fiddle around: as long as you’re not doing trite numerics on arbitrary systems of equations you’ve cooked up for your own amusement you’re good in my books.
Enjoy the tools. Keep your wits about you. Work through the steps that are presented to you. Build your intuition. HAVE FUN.
I think the astronomy and telescope comparison is missing some nuance. You don't delegate actual thought to a telescope, the thinking and acting on the observations you make with it is still done by you. With AI that is different; you get the opportunity to delegate a lot of thinking and acting to it (practically all of it if you really wish), at which point it becomes dubious to call yourself the creator or inventor of some idea.
You can use AI like a telescope, and alleviate your inherent organizational problems or other ailments, which in my opinion is a great use case, as it is empowering. But there will also be plenty of people who are not looking to alleviate any mental/physical quirks they have to do more, but simply want to make a "quick buck" for the least possible effort from the work and thinking of others, without adding much value of their own. Lowering the bar makes things easier for both, the ones who bring value and the ones who merely exploit in some context.
Absolutely true: there’ll be folks who understand no mathematics at all and who will try to elbow their way in. There will also be (extending the metaphor) an ecology of instrument-makers and lens-grinders who somehow become party to the debate. But to be Frank (though I am James) mathematicians will recognise their own.
qubex · · focus · HN ↗
I’ve always been at a disadvantage academically because I’m rather clumsy with my manipulations, derivations, and I’m a disaster at mental arithmetic. I’m also dyslexic. But starting in the late 1990s when I was in High School I started to become fluent with CAS (Computer Algebra Systems): first Derive, then the Symbolics capabilities of Mathlab, and ultimately Mathematica.
The whole transition is turning out quite well for me: I’m now able to delegate exploring my intuitions to increasingly powerful tools, I no longer have to haul the pyramid blocks up the ramp myself but I can drop them in by helicopter (as if were) and what I bring to the party is intuition and understanding.
I view it a bit like astronomy: in ancient times, before telescopes, keen eyesight was a prerequisite to be an astronomer. Later, after telescopes, anybody with eyesight had enormously enhanced capabilities of observation, and now, with radioastronomy and other forms of remote sensing (neutrino observatories, gravitational interferometers) the whole field has opened up to people who by virtue of being blind would’ve literally been excluded only a few decades ago.
Go forth and multiply: everybody can become a mathematician now. There’s an infinite number of potential universes out there with an infinite number of facts to prove and disprove. And while we’re at it: there’s so much more to mathematics than conjectures, proofs and counterexamples. Solve, model, approximate, fiddle around: as long as you’re not doing trite numerics on arbitrary systems of equations you’ve cooked up for your own amusement you’re good in my books.
Enjoy the tools. Keep your wits about you. Work through the steps that are presented to you. Build your intuition. HAVE FUN.
Archer6621 · · focus · HN ↗
You can use AI like a telescope, and alleviate your inherent organizational problems or other ailments, which in my opinion is a great use case, as it is empowering. But there will also be plenty of people who are not looking to alleviate any mental/physical quirks they have to do more, but simply want to make a "quick buck" for the least possible effort from the work and thinking of others, without adding much value of their own. Lowering the bar makes things easier for both, the ones who bring value and the ones who merely exploit in some context.
qubex · · focus · HN ↗