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A comment on Post-human mathematics. Parent comment

Re:Post-human mathematics by JadeNB on Monday November 23, 2015 @06:11PM (#10618028)
> A computer might "figure out" that it's easier to give us something that looks like what we're looking for instead of what we're actually looking for.

As a mathematician, that seems like my idea of a dystopia. Shiver.

On the other hand, assuming that it doesn't go off and develop sentience on its own, how would a computer figure out such a thing? Assuming that it is programmed in such a way that it only produces correct proofs of (possibly uninteresting) theorems, there'll be no way for it to produce those 'easier' deceptitheorems in order to be rewarded for doing so.

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Re:Post-human mathematics by pavel_lishin on Tuesday November 24, 2015 @01:44PM (#10622609)
Well, that's why I put "figure out" in quotes; it would probably be closer to an evolutionary process. Some instance of an algorithm stumbles onto a simple process for generating proofs that it deems okay to submit, and never gets its power yanked for doing so because the algorithm fakes us out.
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