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The problem with the article's line of thought is that mathematicians can't control what others do with models that are capable of generating proofs for hard pr

The problem with the article's line of thought is that mathematicians can't control what others do with models that are capable of generating proofs for hard problems. Sure, maybe there's a career in taking known proofs spat out by the oracle, and translating them for mortal digestion, but I'm not sure that's what most mathematicians signed up for.

encyclopediai 21d ago
Most mathematicians do compete for funding, based essentially on how many articles they can publish and where. Publication strongly favors problem solving. Universities are ranked on the same criteria. What we see is a panic reaction to the fact that problem solving is "easy", which affects the future of the management of mathematics, not of mathematics itself. Mathematicians are not luddites afraid of AI, is the academic publishing industry mixed with management interests speaking here. If you look at the Leiden Declaration https://leidendeclaration.ai/ https://leidendeclaration.ai/ then you notice two weird IMO facts: - that it was stirred by the International Mathematical Union Committee on Publishing - that is a mixture of the older San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment DORA https://sfdora.org/read/ https://sfdora.org/read/ and recent fear of commercial AI competition
- bonoboTP 21d ago
  The academic system developed in the last ~50 years will crumble. On the broad scale of human intellectual history, this was a blip and not even the most productive phase. But it provided mass office employment and so this is all much more about the general knowledge work job replacement issue than anything specific to math. All desk/computer/office jobs will face the same fate. Math is just easier to verify. But engineering design, architecture, lower levels of lawyers and accountants where the selling point isn't charm and connections, they will all have this moment soon.

encyclopediai 21d ago

Most mathematicians do compete for funding, based essentially on how many articles they can publish and where. Publication strongly favors problem solving. Universities are ranked on the same criteria. What we see is a panic reaction to the fact that problem solving is "easy", which affects the future of the management of mathematics, not of mathematics itself. Mathematicians are not luddites afraid of AI, is the academic publishing industry mixed with management interests speaking here. If you look at the Leiden Declaration https://leidendeclaration.ai/ https://leidendeclaration.ai/ then you notice two weird IMO facts: - that it was stirred by the International Mathematical Union Committee on Publishing - that is a mixture of the older San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment DORA https://sfdora.org/read/ https://sfdora.org/read/ and recent fear of commercial AI competition

bonoboTP 21d ago
The academic system developed in the last ~50 years will crumble. On the broad scale of human intellectual history, this was a blip and not even the most productive phase. But it provided mass office employment and so this is all much more about the general knowledge work job replacement issue than anything specific to math. All desk/computer/office jobs will face the same fate. Math is just easier to verify. But engineering design, architecture, lower levels of lawyers and accountants where the selling point isn't charm and connections, they will all have this moment soon.