4 ms·

This goes in a necessary direction, from my personal take away of Gower's recent post on the subject. Mathematics is suffering from Goodhart's Law: "When a m

by kurthr 13d ago

This goes in a necessary direction, from my personal take away of Gower's recent post on the subject. Mathematics is suffering from Goodhart's Law: "When a measure becomes a target, it ceases to be a good measure."

lacedeconstruct 12d ago
Doing something difficult was a signal that you: a- understood it and all the background information it requires b- internalized techniques and methods that are helpful in problem solving in general Now it just means nothing
- Razengan 12d ago
  > Now it just means nothing Now it means we can move on to other difficult shit.
  - lacedeconstruct 12d ago
    There is a finite capacity/time for a human mind to do difficult shit, if it can be slop forked in a microsecond before you even get to flesh it out there is no point
    - Razengan 12d ago
      Well then you have time to invent some new difficult shit. 3Blue1Brown: The last IMO problem AI could not solve: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nbwv5wHQoj0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nbwv5wHQoj0
  - busyant 12d ago
    And what would that be?
    - Razengan 12d ago
      Have you seen the night sky, outside a city?
      - jplusequalt 12d ago
        Space colonization will never happen.
        Razengan 12d ago
        People like you will always happen.
        jplusequalt 12d ago
        People who understand the vast gulf of technological advancements (some bordering on fantasy) between what we currently have, and what needs to exist for it to happen?
      - busyant 11d ago
        I have. Was that the hard part?
  - js8 12d ago
    Today, the difficult shit is how to get the resources from the people who use them to turn difficult shit into an easy shit. Basically, a war. I am not sure I want people to move on to that.
vatsachak 12d ago
Timothy Gower
- kurthr 12d ago
  No. It should have been Gowers' rather than Gower's. The link is: https://gowers.wordpress.com/2026/09/17/why-i-didnt-sign-the-fields-medallists-letter/ https://gowers.wordpress.com/2026/09/17/why-i-didnt-sign-the...
bonoboTP 12d ago
Some were like this, some weren't. Many people were in it because it's objective and factual and not up for the whims of taste of some established gatekeeper. They weren't in it for art performance reasons or to please the aesthetic judgment of some entrenched mathematician-baron.

by kurthr 13d ago

lacedeconstruct 12d ago

Doing something difficult was a signal that you: a- understood it and all the background information it requires b- internalized techniques and methods that are helpful in problem solving in general Now it just means nothing

Razengan 12d ago
> Now it just means nothing Now it means we can move on to other difficult shit.
- lacedeconstruct 12d ago
  There is a finite capacity/time for a human mind to do difficult shit, if it can be slop forked in a microsecond before you even get to flesh it out there is no point
  - Razengan 12d ago
    Well then you have time to invent some new difficult shit. 3Blue1Brown: The last IMO problem AI could not solve: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nbwv5wHQoj0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nbwv5wHQoj0
- busyant 12d ago
  And what would that be?
  - Razengan 12d ago
    Have you seen the night sky, outside a city?
    - jplusequalt 12d ago
      Space colonization will never happen.
      - Razengan 12d ago
        People like you will always happen.
        jplusequalt 12d ago
        People who understand the vast gulf of technological advancements (some bordering on fantasy) between what we currently have, and what needs to exist for it to happen?
    - busyant 11d ago
      I have. Was that the hard part?
- js8 12d ago
  Today, the difficult shit is how to get the resources from the people who use them to turn difficult shit into an easy shit. Basically, a war. I am not sure I want people to move on to that.

vatsachak 12d ago

Timothy Gower

kurthr 12d ago
No. It should have been Gowers' rather than Gower's. The link is: https://gowers.wordpress.com/2026/09/17/why-i-didnt-sign-the-fields-medallists-letter/ https://gowers.wordpress.com/2026/09/17/why-i-didnt-sign-the...

bonoboTP 12d ago

Some were like this, some weren't. Many people were in it because it's objective and factual and not up for the whims of taste of some established gatekeeper. They weren't in it for art performance reasons or to please the aesthetic judgment of some entrenched mathematician-baron.