"'Beware of first- hand ideas!' exclaimed one of the most advanced of them. 'First-hand ideas do not really exist. They are but the physical impressions produced by live and fear, and on this gross foundation who could erect a philosophy? Let your ideas be second-hand, and if possible tenth-hand, for then they will be far removed from that disturbing element - direct observation."
That's an uncharitable take. LLMs doing mathematics could mean mathematicians losing jobs and grants, feeling a profound loss of purpose or believing that all their work to get where they are was for nothing. I don't agree with all of these concerns or with every view driven by fear relating to all of this, but we ought to respect their sense of dispossession, even if we think it's not that warranted. Reducing all of that to being anti-science is just rude. OP's post is dismissive of mathematicians works and values. It treats math as nothing more than a pipeline to useful inventions, which is hilariously wrong and the hoped scifi payoff example of tech from Spiderman is fucking hollow.
"'Beware of first- hand ideas!' exclaimed one of the most advanced of them. 'First-hand ideas do not really exist. They are but the physical impressions produced by live and fear, and on this gross foundation who could erect a philosophy? Let your ideas be second-hand, and if possible tenth-hand, for then they will be far removed from that disturbing element - direct observation."
"The Machine Stops", by E.M. Forster
Being mad at math problems being solved is the most anti science thing you can do
That's an uncharitable take. LLMs doing mathematics could mean mathematicians losing jobs and grants, feeling a profound loss of purpose or believing that all their work to get where they are was for nothing. I don't agree with all of these concerns or with every view driven by fear relating to all of this, but we ought to respect their sense of dispossession, even if we think it's not that warranted. Reducing all of that to being anti-science is just rude. OP's post is dismissive of mathematicians works and values. It treats math as nothing more than a pipeline to useful inventions, which is hilariously wrong and the hoped scifi payoff example of tech from Spiderman is fucking hollow.