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Scott Aaronson

The Mathocalypse

Here is a 3-paragraph summary of the blog post for mathopen.com:

The post opens with a striking quote from computer scientist Omer Reingold, riffing on the famous Niemöller poem about speaking up in the face of danger. Reingold jokes that he stayed silent when AI tackled Navier-Stokes, but grew alarmed when it turned its sights on the RL vs. L problem, a fundamental open question in computational complexity. This sets a playful but thought-provoking tone for what follows.

The author then shares a charming family moment: his 9-year-old son taunting his wife, complexity theorist Dana Moshkovitz, apparently about AI making inroads into problems that researchers like her have devoted careers to studying. The scene captures something real about the current moment in mathematics and theoretical computer science, where AI tools are beginning to bump up against some of the deepest open problems in the field.

The post, which appears to be part of a longer piece, uses humor and personal anecdote to explore a genuinely serious question: what happens to mathematical research culture when AI systems start engaging with problems that have defined entire careers and subfields? The title "The Mathocalypse" signals that the author is having fun with the existential anxiety many researchers feel, while also taking the underlying questions about the future of mathematical discovery seriously.

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