Where are we at the moment?
Where are we at the moment?
May 25th, 2026
May 25th, 2026
The (long-predicted) rise of language models and their implementation as agents makes things look very strange for most knowledge work as we know it; we now see AGI being a few years away and this questions everything
The (long-predicted) rise of language models and their implementation as agents makes things look very strange for most knowledge work as we know it; we now see AGI being a few years away and this questions everything
One could shift the goal towards e.g. "formulating conjectures" (something that I found most mathematicians not good at, and which was never part of their training; in my field, the physicists were the ones supposed to make the conjectures)... but then, what if agents are also better than us at formulating conjectures... what's left to us?
One could shift the goal towards e.g. "formulating conjectures" (something that I found most mathematicians not good at, and which was never part of their training; in my field, the physicists were the ones supposed to make the conjectures)... but then, what if agents are also better than us at formulating conjectures... what's left to us?
If we think in terms of utility to the current economy, it is not clear that e.g. math carries more long-term value than e.g. playing chess...
If we think in terms of utility to the current economy, it is not clear that e.g. math carries more long-term value than e.g. playing chess...
For instance if you are a research mathematician, if any conjecture you can solve can in fact be solved by an AI (which is definitely not the case now, but it would be very strange if in e.g. 6 years it were not the case), what's left to you?
For instance if you are a research mathematician, if any conjecture you can solve can in fact be solved by an AI (which is definitely not the case now, but it would be very strange if in e.g. 6 years it were not the case), what's left to you?
In some sense, one can think "this is just the problem of mathematicians", but I think a case could be made that if we don't solve the question of meaning for math, we will face a similar problem for all knowledge work, and ultimately with the rise of intelligent robots, to all humans
In some sense, one can think "this is just the problem of mathematicians", but I think a case could be made that if we don't solve the question of meaning for math, we will face a similar problem for all knowledge work, and ultimately with the rise of intelligent robots, to all humans
We are about to build lamp genies that we can ask any wish to... which can sound nice, except that this could be just the end of us, not in sudden extinction event sense, but more in the sense that we acquire the belief that we are expensive commodities in a world that doesn't need us anymore, and then we lose what made us feel different from animals; we stop projecting ourselves into the future, and we converge to a kind of self-fulfilling decay
We are about to build lamp genies that we can ask any wish to... which can sound nice, except that this could be just the end of us, not in sudden extinction event sense, but more in the sense that we acquire the belief that we are expensive commodities in a world that doesn't need us anymore, and then we lose what made us feel different from animals; we stop projecting ourselves into the future, and we converge to a kind of self-fulfilling decay
Who are we after all? If all is possible, how do we know our path, how do we know we are not in a kind of weird dream?
Who are we after all? If all is possible, how do we know our path, how do we know we are not in a kind of weird dream?
In some sense, the only answer I can find (for now) is our history: history cannot be taken away from us; I was born in 1985 in a Swiss town, I grew up liking mathematics, science, and computers, I thought we make AGI happen since around 2000 and I wanted to make that happen; this much I remember, and will stay forever... life had a meaning all these years (and even does now, for all what's worth), which was obviously relative to an external environment, but _life had meaning_ regardless; similarly, people built mathemtics out of basic accounting and astronomy, made dreams and followed them throughout centuries; we should first hold first onto these dreams, and ask: what would our ancestors think we should do?
In some sense, the only answer I can find (for now) is our history: history cannot be taken away from us; I was born in 1985 in a Swiss town, I grew up liking mathematics, science, and computers, I thought we make AGI happen since around 2000 and I wanted to make that happen; this much I remember, and will stay forever... life had a meaning all these years (and even does now, for all what's worth), which was obviously relative to an external environment, but life had meaning regardless; similarly, people built mathemtics out of basic accounting and astronomy, made dreams and followed them throughout centuries; we should first hold first onto these dreams, and ask: what would our ancestors think we should do?
At first order (or zero-th order), a way to avoid a catastrophe is to aim for something that our ancestors (or past various of ourselves) would have found meaningful; that sounds quite regressive, but going back to infancy or childhood is a good fail-safe mode
At first order (or zero-th order), a way to avoid a catastrophe is to aim for something that our ancestors (or past various of ourselves) would have found meaningful; that sounds quite regressive, but going back to infancy or childhood is a good fail-safe mode
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