logoalt Hacker News

itishappy • yesterday at 9:28 PM • 4 replies • view on HN

> If the aim of mathematics is to promote greater human understanding...

Is this the aim of mathematics?


Replies

kzz102 • yesterday at 9:51 PM

The aim is to produce a body of knowledge that will be useful to humanity. So far, the best way to ensure that knowledge is useful is to have a society of experts who understand them well. That may not be necessary any more with AI, but it's a scary thought -- because that logic can be applied to any human knowledge, not just mathematical.

➕ show 1 reply
feanaro • yesterday at 10:48 PM

Even if it were not, it is a wise aim, unlike ceding understanding to a robot.

drivebyhooting • yesterday at 9:36 PM

This is certainly what many mathematicians have used as justification for why humans should continue studying math.

caaqil • yesterday at 11:13 PM

> Is this the aim of mathematics?

Think of it like this: when your extremely efficient 2-3 SD brain that could pattern match more aggressively than mere mortals seems to be losing ground to aggressively scalable stochastic parrots that can pattern match faster than you, you replace your contempt for teaching and pedagogy with sudden epiphany and awakening that nurturing curious Math lovers and developing the human spirit is what it's all about. It's a good gambit.