Even academic mathematics and computer science work like that to a degree. We get a lot of stuff done assuming P != NP, that no polynomial-time prime factoriza

Even academic mathematics and computer science work like that to a degree. We get a lot of stuff done assuming P != NP, that no polynomial-time prime factorization algorithm for classical computers exists, that one-way functions exist, etc. As long as assumptions are clearly stated and are routinely questioned it's fine to have them