Re:“Math 2.0” will need to value mathematical progress more ...
by mangodrunk on Thursday October 08, 2026 @11:49AM
(#50007303)
Well said! Unfortunately this sentiment seems to be in the minority.
Many of these reactions are much too hasty, making long term claims for something that has only recently happened and is fast evolving.
On top of that, assuming that there are 350,000 math PhDs, that’s 0.0036% of the current population (1 out of 28,000). There have only been 68 Fields Medalists which is 1 out of 122 million people. So, most of us wouldn’t be solving these problems, but now we all can benefit from them.
The study of mathematics is certainly to change, just like it did with previous advancements in mathematics itself and technology.
Lastly, deep down I don't really get what mathematicians are so upset about. All open problems, once solved, are not solved by 99.9999% of mathematicians, because it's solved by one or a handful of others, and the others just learn of the solution/proof. Mathematicians can now still organize conferences about these proofs, discuss them, digest them, think of new avenues of research, etc. They don't even have to invite OpenAI, in 6 months whatever model is available on chatgpt.com will be this smart anyway, and they can use it in the workshops for explanations, etc.
[1] I was going to write "I'm a bit disappointed by the response of the math community..", but then I remembered, whatever T. Tao writes is not the position of the math community, it's his position. Then I was going to write "I'm a bit disappointed by the response of T. Tao..", but then I remembered, I don't know Tao personally, so why am I disappointed?
[2] Steve Ballmer of Microsoft, I believe