Mathematicians will probably become obsolete before anyone else
Mathematicians will probably become obsolete before anyone else [pdf]
This essay argues that mathematicians, due to the formal and rule-based nature of their work, are among the first professions to be automated by AI. It contrasts mathematical reasoning with other fields that require more nuanced human judgment, suggesting that the very precision that defines mathematics makes it vulnerable to replacement.
Mathematicians will probably become obsolete before anyone else.
- imranq
Personally, I found that people are impressed with AI for subjects they simply don't understand, and when an expert works with AI, they're often underwhelmed. So while we're seeing some mathematics being automated and proved, I think there's a long way to go before we automate proofs with meaningful human value.
- manfromchina1
Does anyone have to understand AI output when it comes to math? Then that someone has to be trained in math. Yeah, for all intents and purposes that person is a mathematician. Maybe not the one who gets money for that in which case they are not a professional mathematician. Maybe these paid guys will disappear. However if AI keeps churning out new stuff nobody understands humanity will have to create a new category of employment for those who do to make sense of all that. Mathematicians, then, are back in the game again.
One possibility is that AI keeps churning out new math and funnels it into other branches of science and engineering without any human input. At which point math becomes a black box. Maybe in that case human mathematicians might become obsolete. But then other branches will start becoming incomprehensible as well.
- appplication
The interesting context: 1) this has nothing to do with LLMs 2) this is a pdf of a handwritten letter and 3) this was written by the unabomber
- amelius
Remember, programming is a branch of mathematics.
- sdevonoes
So many things he got right (except you know what)