I applied to the caltech mathaton.

While applying, I looked at the current SoTA, (briefly) read through some of the papers, and realized that I am very far away from understanding them.

Understanding one of these proofs is the work of several months, years or lifetimes depending on whether or not something clicks. It requires a kind of stamina that I quite frankly don't have, but I would like to develop.

If the mathaton's organizers accept my team, I realized that I would spend the next few years working through the result.

So why apply to the Mathaton?

"Many years ago the great British explorer George Mallory, who was to die on Mount Everest, was asked why did he want to climb it. He said, 'Because it is there.'

Well, [theoretical math] is there, and we're going to climb it, and [topology] and [number theory] are there, and new hopes for knowledge and peace are there. And, therefore, as we set sail we ask God's blessing on the [~~most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure~~] on which [we have] ever embarked."

More seriously, I applied because I was hoping to get access to the models without the veil. I don't think people realize just how big the gap is between what exists behind the scenes at these entities, and what we get out here.

And it's frustrating. Because I think it's within the rights of frontier labs to decide whether or not to sell access to a product, but the labs aren't just doing that. They're trying to thumb the scale to make sure that none of us ever get access to these models at peak performance. Ever.

And I think humanity is worse off for that. I am worse off for that.

I have studied the shape and structure of historical technological revolutions (and I've written about it), and usually the world doesn't realize how big of a big deal the big deal is because the big deal is often flawed, broken, and under-delivers. In the short term.

In the long term...? The world changed in the past few months. I think mathematics is one small part of that.

For most of human history, higher mathematics would have been inaccessible to me, and other outsiders, no matter how well heeled. Mathematics is, or rather was, a living discipline that existed piecemeal in a handful of minds across the world. These people's time was finite and valuable. To just meet them, you'd have to jump through hoops, and spend years proving yourself.

There is no price for an hour of tutoring from Terence Tao. But now, with AI? You can have an entity with the capabilities of Terry Tao help you understand the subtleties of math.

AI has changed what mathematics is. And every prominent mathematician seems to know it. They feel like mathematics has been devalued, and in some ways it has. Mathematics has gone from being a living discipline kept alive by a chosen few to a wellspring everyone can sip from. For the first time in human existence, learning and accessing higher mathematics doesn't involve jumping through hoops and knowing the right people. You can just ask.

I can just ask.

Except I can't. Because that capability is being gate kept. And I want to know. I want to climb the mountain.