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I'm not sure what you mean by "appeal." But, it seems to me that if P = NP, and if we can find a constructive proof of this fact, i.e. someone presents a P-time
by azdavis 9y ago
I'm not sure what you mean by "appeal." But, it seems to me that if P = NP, and if we can find a constructive proof of this fact, i.e. someone presents a P-time algorithm A_L deciding an NP-complete language L, the field of CS in a sense would get much less interesting, because although we would have answered arguably the most important question ever posed, there would be much less of a need to research and develop efficient algorithms or approximation strategies. We'd probably just focus on trying to improve the runtime of A_L and the reductions from other NP languages.
- yters 9y agoYes every field is of interest to its specialists. But the popular appeal is that comp sci promises the ultimate explanation of a materialistic reality. At least this was its appeal when I chose it for my major, and it drives the religious transhumanism and the AI hype and arguably the funding of IT. But if the public learns seemingly trivial problems are inherently intractable or impossible for computers, that glamorous spectacle will shatter.