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Formal proofs increase trust in mathematics. E.g. Fermat's Last Theorem is supposedly true, but I can't understand the proof. I have to trust the mathematicians
by mrob 8y ago
Formal proofs increase trust in mathematics. E.g. Fermat's Last Theorem is supposedly true, but I can't understand the proof. I have to trust the mathematicians who say the proof is correct, and I know that in other fields (most notably with the replication crisis in psychology) people accepted things as true when they weren't. If I had a formal proof I could run it through a theorem checker and see that it was correct, and I could use multiple independent implementations of the theorem checker for more confidence. If I'm using human mathematicians as black-box theorem checkers, I don't have the option of using multiple independent implementations, because all mathematicians work with other mathematicians, so it's possible that they're just agreeing with each other's mistakes. With the software I also have the option of examining how it works, all the way down to transistor level if I want to.
- lacker 8y agoBut who is demanding this sort of increased trust in abstract mathematics? Mathematicians don't seem to be demanding it, as this sort of work/research is not in high demand for publications. Non-mathematicians don't seem to be demanding it, because this sort of mathematics doesn't yet have much application outside of mathematics.