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It's highly unclear to me what will happen. Probably learning math will be more accessible. But it's unclear how many humans will be involved at the forefront o
by Davidzheng 3y ago
It's highly unclear to me what will happen. Probably learning math will be more accessible. But it's unclear how many humans will be involved at the forefront of math research. For example you can imagine a situation where in some parts of math large communities work in a direction guided by a few "visionaries". This sort of thing will not really happen after the commodization of theorem provers. Like instead of an advisor telling a PhD student a problem, they can just plug it in. On the other hand, in some sense the advisor and the student will be equal in the fact that the only thing you will need to do is ask questions?(last part is also speculative)
- falcor84 3y ago>Probably learning math will be more accessible. I'm not quite sure what you mean. Isn't math already pretty much the most accessible thing that could be imagined? I can't think of any story of someone in the past century who wanted to study math but was unable to, except for reasons prohibiting any sort of academic study whatsoever (e.g. girls in Taliban controlled areas).
- Davidzheng 3y agoI don't think research math is that accessible! Granted theoretically it's possible to just read papers and do research--and possibly it's theoretically as accessible as possible. In practice people learn better with teachers and access to experts at the research level. If this pans out, we can commoditize access to experts (or even experts).
- falcor84 3y agoBut even in 1913 a brilliant mathematician from the middle of nowhere could access a world class mentor. I would assume that this is so much easier these days. What would stand in the way of a modern day math prodigy from getting accepted into a good program? Or is it about making this more accessible to students who are "merely good" rather than brilliant?
- Davidzheng 3y agoyes I mean more accessible to the general public yes.
- michaelt 3y agoSome people imagine AI will soon be a bit like being able to go to a university professor's office hours to ask questions and get detailed expert advice on any part of the undergraduate curriculum you're struggling with. Except it'll be available 24/7 and you won't have to pass exams, spend $$$$, attend full time, and live in dorms and be in your late teens or early 20s to get access.
- c-cube 3y agoAnd you'll have to fact check every answer to make sure it's not a "hallucination".