What it Means to Be a Mathematician When AI Does the Math
In the mid-noughties, when music by the Killers and Franz Ferdinand blared out of every pub and nightclub I passed, I spent my days and nights struggling through a Ph. My research focused on simulating how special light waves interact in liquid crystals and using simple equations to approximate and understand those interactions. When I look back at my thesis now, liquid crystal technology is old hat, and I imagine my work could be completed with AI assistance in a matter of days-maybe hours.
Key Takeaways
- But the same cannot be said for the work of the pure mathematics Ph.
students with whom I shared a cramped office at the University of Edinburgh.
- It wasn't even a form of masochism (which was my second guess)-penance for some imagined inadequacy.
I realized they derived joy, satisfaction, and meaning from the long journey toward understanding.
- They notice or imagine links, patterns, or properties in numbers, shapes, or logical structures.
From this, they write conjectures-unproven statements of their speculation.
- " This is the age-old joy of math in action.
But today's AI systems are starting to make inroads into bypassing this slow, deliberative process.
- Humans propose conjectures, guided by intuition.
But the same cannot be said for the work of the pure mathematics Ph. students with whom I shared a cramped office at the University of Edinburgh. At the time, I felt sorry for these colleagues, who day after day sat at their desks, seemingly tearing their hair out and making no progress.
(Though I was struggling too, I was at least always making some headway. ) When we finished and went our separate ways, some hadn't even published a paper. Now, in hindsight, I finally understand why they toiled for years on abstract mathematical problems that only a handful of people in the world care about.
It wasn't arrogance, as I thought at the time; they weren't trying to prove their superior intelligence by being the first to solve a seemingly intractable mathematical problem. It wasn't even a form of masochism (which was my second guess)-penance for some imagined inadequacy. I realized they derived joy, satisfaction, and meaning from the long journey toward understanding.
For more details please read the original article at IEEE Spectrum AI.
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