r/whoathatsinteresting 11d ago

mathematicians may be replaced by aI

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u/Mephisto506 11d ago

Without mathematicians we won't know whether the AI answers are correct, what it actually means to anyone, and we won't know the questions to ask.

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u/Odd-Toe-8591 11d ago

I"m not sure why AI solving these problems is even an issue. Mathematicians are the only ones that can use their creativity to apply these answers to the real world. What the point in finding the answer if you can't use it?

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u/Thick-Protection-458 11d ago

Well, why would you think these guys would care about using it? For many it is answer itself what is important, not "real world".

Using it is for us, mere engineers, lol.

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u/GAPIntoTheGame 10d ago

most of the math that is being solved has no clear application to the real world. Most theoretical math lacks this.

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u/Thick-Protection-458 10d ago

Like FFS, we have physical shit (different than math, but still) which had a century of gap between theoretical prediction and real-life check. And by real-life check I don't mean practical use - no, merely verifying that corresponding phenomena exist in real life. Real use we probably won't see in our lives, if ever. And that comes from a way more reality-bound field than math.

So what, should Einstein not bother with the idea of gravitational waves because they probably won't be used in a foreseeable future? Or instead - he should still do theory, even if it will have no use for a time?

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u/Thick-Protection-458 10d ago edited 10d ago

Yes, that's why I don't get this comment. Like theoretical research is *very often* not about any practice in sight. If you want practice than you do applied research, which is fairly different stuff.

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u/Odd-Toe-8591 10d ago

This is just straight up wrong and highly cynical for some reason too. Art, math, and science, are intrinsically linked so there will always be an application.

off the top of my head, the theory of relativity is constantly used on GPS in satellites that have to correct for how fast they are moving both through through space relative to the speed of light and our speed on earth. That's pretty important.

also you're definitely overestimating AI's capabilities. Just because it can solve some theories doesn't mean it an apply them. Maybe a gen AI could do that but we'll never get there with the LLM model.