4 ms·

The author seems to assume that conjuring up a conjecture is the hard part - yet it will be filled with the same standard mathematics ( granted, sometimes wrapp

The author seems to assume that conjuring up a conjecture is the hard part - yet it will be filled with the same standard mathematics ( granted, sometimes wrapped as new tools, and the proof ends up being as important as the result), often at great cost. Having powerful assistants that allow people to try out crazy mathematical ideas without fear of risking their careers or just having fun with ideas is likely to have an outsized impact anyway I think.

tensor 2y ago
Even worse, people seem to forget that “science” is not math. You need to test hypotheses with physical (including biological) experiments. The vast majority of the time spent doing “science” is running these experiments. An LLM like AI won’t help with that. It would still be a huge help in finding and correlating data and information though.
timewizard 2y ago
New things AI will magically fix by existing: The completely broken university career publishing pipeline. *fingers crossed*
kristianc 2y ago
As Isaac Newton himself put it, “if I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.” It was ever thus.
aleksiy123 2y ago
The Bitter Lesson seems relevant here again. http://www.incompleteideas.net/IncIdeas/BitterLesson.html http://www.incompleteideas.net/IncIdeas/BitterLesson.html I think I read somewhere about Erdős having this somewhat brute force approach. Whenever fresh techniques were developed (by himself or others), he would go back to see if they could be used on one of his long-standing open questions.
- HappMacDonald 2y ago
  I think this is the second time I've read this blog post, but it increasingly strikes me as parenting advice. Translated to that domain, it reads "teach your kids how to think, not what to think".
  - robwwilliams 2y ago
    Which is great advice that almost no parents follow.
  - causal 2y ago
    Paradoxically, as a parent I find the notion that humans are blank slates completely false. Babies come with a tremendous amount of pre-programmed behaviors and interests.

tensor 2y ago

Even worse, people seem to forget that “science” is not math. You need to test hypotheses with physical (including biological) experiments. The vast majority of the time spent doing “science” is running these experiments. An LLM like AI won’t help with that. It would still be a huge help in finding and correlating data and information though.

timewizard 2y ago

New things AI will magically fix by existing: The completely broken university career publishing pipeline. *fingers crossed*

kristianc 2y ago

As Isaac Newton himself put it, “if I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants.” It was ever thus.

aleksiy123 2y ago

The Bitter Lesson seems relevant here again. http://www.incompleteideas.net/IncIdeas/BitterLesson.html http://www.incompleteideas.net/IncIdeas/BitterLesson.html I think I read somewhere about Erdős having this somewhat brute force approach. Whenever fresh techniques were developed (by himself or others), he would go back to see if they could be used on one of his long-standing open questions.

HappMacDonald 2y ago
I think this is the second time I've read this blog post, but it increasingly strikes me as parenting advice. Translated to that domain, it reads "teach your kids how to think, not what to think".
- robwwilliams 2y ago
  Which is great advice that almost no parents follow.
- causal 2y ago
  Paradoxically, as a parent I find the notion that humans are blank slates completely false. Babies come with a tremendous amount of pre-programmed behaviors and interests.