5 ms·
> But matrix multiplication, to which our civilization is now devoting so many of its marginal resources, has all the elegance of a man hammering a nail into a
by janalsncm 11mo ago
> But matrix multiplication, to which our civilization is now devoting so many of its marginal resources, has all the elegance of a man hammering a nail into a board.
Elegance is a silly critique. Imagine instead we were spending trillions on floral bouquets, calligraphy, and porcelain tea sets. I would argue that would be a bad allocation of resources.
What matters to me is whether it solves the problems we have. Not how elegant we are in doing so. And to the extent AI fails to do that, I think those are valid critiques. Not how elegant it is.
- card_zero 11mo ago"Creeping elegance", I guess: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/creeping_elegance https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/creeping_elegance But elegant can mean minimal, restrained, parsimonious, sparing. That's different from a bunch a paraphernalia and flowery nonsense.
- almostgotcaught 11mo agothe aesthetics of math and physics is by far the most boring discussion that can be had. i used to be utterly repulsed by such talk in undergrad - beauty this and that. it absolutely always felt affected and put on - as if you talk about it enough, you'll actually convince people outside of the major to give you the same plaudits as real artists.... yea right lol.
- chris_wot 11mo agoThat’s the opinion of one person. There are many mathematicians who find beauty in the maths they are studying.
- card_zero 11mo agoYou're equivocating over the verdict, here. Are they right?
- deleted 11mo ago[deleted]
- almostgotcaught 11mo ago> There are many mathematicians who find beauty Lol did you think this was clever? You just literally reiterated exactly what I said. See, if you had said "there are many pianists that find beauty in math" - you know like how many mathematicians find beauty in piano concertos - then you'd have me.
- inglor_cz 11mo agoPianists don't find beauty in written maths, but mathematicians don't usually find beauty in sheet music either. It is the performance, accesible to our senses, that can convey beauty even to amateurs. Accidentally - in the parts of maths where the concepts can be visualized, such as fractal theory, non-mathematicians seem to love what they see.
- almostgotcaught 11mo ago> written maths Absolutely no one when they're navel gazing on this topic is discussing the aesthetics of notation. > seem to love what they see. Nor visualizations
- inglor_cz 11mo agoIt was you who compared music to maths. People in general perceive music as "what is being played" vs. mathematics "what is being written on a page". This is the common concept, but it is incomplete. Music has its boring parts (notation), so does maths, but the general public is prone to confuse maths as a whole with its "sheet music". "when they're navel gazing" Maybe they're just thinking?
- srean 11mo agoI will emphasize your point more forcefully. All mathematicians I know work on what they work because of the beauty and aesthetics in their field. Much like sex. Sex has reproductive utility but that's not why most people engage in it. Those who do are are missing much. Notion of beauty for a mathematician is quite specialized. It's the difference between spaghetti code that works and an elegant and efficient code that is correct. They are easy to build upon efficiently.
- almostgotcaught 11mo ago> Much like sex. My guy you know lots of people in here have read Feynman right? You should cite him instead of pretending you were clever enough to come up with the analogy yourself.
- srean 11mo agoQuite the contrary. I expect majority of HN readers to know the quote, base 0 if you will, and not harbor thoughts that by having read it they are a part of an exclusive club. Channeling Good Will Hunting much huh? Most HN'ers would have watched that too.
- almostgotcaught 11mo agoI have no idea what you're trying to say - it is generally understood everywhere in the world (ie all forms of human culture) that it's pathetic to pass off someone else's insights as your own.
- srean 11mo agoOnly when there is an expectation of being perceived as original. When people use differentiation people don't cite Newton or Leibnitz, do they ?
- almostgotcaught 11mo ago
- alganet 11mo agoYou're right. It's all about solving problems. Maybe we need a word that, when applied to mathematical concepts, describes how simple, easy to understand and generally useful a solution or idea is. I wonder what that word could be.
- srean 11mo agoYou mean tech-debt ridden spaghetti code that works now is as good as an elegant correct and an efficient code ?
- Joker_vD 11mo ago> Imagine instead we were spending trillions on floral bouquets, calligraphy, and porcelain tea sets. I would argue that would be a bad allocation of resources. And I would argue it wouldn't. So? It's a value call. > What matters to me is whether it solves the problems we have. Again, what is and is not a problem is a value call. "Lacking tools to surveil and control the population" and "having population that demands its share of economic output" arguably are problems for someone which AI probably could solve. "The planet is literally on fire" is another problem (for, arguably, much bigger number of someones) and pouring terawatts of energy into chips that, coincidentally, do AI-related matrix multiplications, won't solve that problem.