alt Hacker NewsJust about anyone who has played a sport has heard that they have to target where the ball is moving to, not where the ball is right now. In this regard I am consistently disappointed with the commentary that mathematicians have been producing lately.
As a student, I am actively making decisions which will shape my career for the next forty or so years. At a minimum a discussion like this should acknowledge the possibility that the current rate of AI progress continues apace. I understand the desire to be encouraging, but the best preparation for students involves the consideration of possibilities that current mathematicians negligently paper over.
Of course it will get better at exposition than humans. And it will prompt itself in due time.
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It's not a good analogy because the ball is constrained inside a court with fixed rules about how it can travel. No one can predict accurately how AI is going to change things. Look at all the predictions so far. We have the whole spectrum from "the end of humanity" to "utopia".
No one succeeds in making accurate predictions of the future over a 40 year time scale. Look back at the 20th century, and see the range of range of events, and the kind of technological change, that could occur in a span that long.
Go into things expecting you might have to change careers.
If it gets better and better for the next 40 or so years, will your career exist?
> At a minimum a discussion like this should acknowledge the possibility that the current rate of AI progress continues apace.
But the post does do this: "[...] even if their capacity becomes far superior, there will always be a need for mathematicians at all levels to guide research in paths that make sense for humans to walk (not run)."
> Of course it will get better at exposition than humans.
I'm not so sure about this, because I don't know how one would train towards better exposition as it's not easy to check for good or bad exposition at scale.
> Just about anyone who has played a sport has heard that they have to target where the ball is moving to, not where the ball is right now.
But the ball is flying out of the court and into the abyss.
What specific direct advice would you give then if you could talk to someone who is currently studying math?
Do you know where “the ball” is going? Do these math students? Do the professors? It’s easy to say a vague nothing platitude like “target where the ball is going to” but such empty vague platitudes do not help anyone and just waste time.
Yes, looking at mathematicians, It's remarkable how such smart people can behave so stupidly. Looks like intelligence is overrated.
> In this regard I am consistently disappointed with the commentary that mathematicians have been producing lately.
For all the arrogance the hard sciences have, in the end they are just as human as their humanities counterparts. They just thought they were above becoming worthless because science was elevated above the softer sciences.
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You could being playing best jai alai player always knowing where the ball goes. Problem is, nobody cares.
Do you care to share then? Because anyone I know with any sense right now is aware that "planning for the next forty or so years" is genuinely impossible at this point, especially in mathematics, and the right approach is to remain on your toes, ride the waves, and diversify as much as possible. Heck, even planning for the next five years seems absurd. This is a time of immense uncertainty, and to think otherwise is foolish.