AI's impact on mathematics is analogous to the car's impact on cities
18 points by edsu
18 points by edsu
This analogy is interesting.
AI is supposed to bulldoze the current status quo of academia (in general, I think, and not only mathematics) to create new roads, which in theory would allow the work to move faster and further.
I find it interesting that the solution to this change is to introduce "thoughtful urban planning, as well as the development of social and legal rules on how to manage traffic" to allow human researchers to coexist with AI work.
If the US urban sprawl is any indication of what's to come, the pedestrians will be left behind, and possibly some work will be done for the people who opt in to bike everywhere. The car will come to rule the city. People who make a point to walk everywhere will be left behind by people who are willing to drive. There will be some public infrastructure with shared mass transit, but it won't be viable for most people.
There will still be some holdouts who will continue to walk everywhere. I have the suspicion it will become like some European city centers or historical preservation zones: mostly a novelty for tourists.
I have the suspicion it will become like some European city centers or historical preservation zones: mostly a novelty for tourists.
see also the city of New York..? i feel like this take kind of ignores how recent urban planning and development points consistently to how reducing car dependency is an improvement across the board.
e.g. NYC’s congestion pricing decreased traffic fatalities, improved air quality, and increased economic activity among retail operations in the congestion pricing zone.
Well, I think analogies can be very misleading, but I think this is directionally correct. We don't know exactly what's going to happen in the future, but this is moreso a comment about bottlenecks in workflows.
With AI, we are surely exposing bottlenecks in existing workflows.