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AI isn’t outthinking mathematicians, it’s out-remembering them

davidepiffer.com

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Re: AI isn’t outthinking mathematicians, it’s out-remembering them

#401

Post by usef- »

aetherspawn wrote: post #326
hibikir wrote: post #198

I suspect that a lot about what we call being very intelligent is ultimately out-remembering people around us. I think of all the times in my software career when I did something that others considered very high performance, it either came down to either having more energy than others at tackling a problem they thought was more trouble than it was worth, or just bringing back random knowledge from previous jobs or se…

In line with the other comment on this post: I also am classified as “brilliant” by people and IQ tests. My country gave me an award for being a great inventor. But my memory is worse than anyone I know. I can’t remember the lyrics to any songs, or the lines from any movies, or what I’m doing this week. I don’t think it’s a strong hypothesis. My wife has a nearly eidetic memory, so marrying her was a game changer for…

The things you list not remembering may just be a different focus. I was always amazed by how many movie details other people remembered until I realised they rewatched those movies many times and I never rewatched anything.

Similarly, being engrossed in tasks today (or rabidly learning/reading, as many HN readers do, as long as it's not the link being discussed) might make you not focus much on next week's calendar.

Re: AI isn’t outthinking mathematicians, it’s out-remembering them

#403

Post by ip26 »

hibikir wrote: post #198

I suspect that a lot about what we call being very intelligent is ultimately out-remembering people around us. I think of all the times in my software career when I did something that others considered very high performance, it either came down to either having more energy than others at tackling a problem they thought was more trouble than it was worth, or just bringing back random knowledge from previous jobs or se…

Have done a lot of “parallel invention” where I invent something genuinely novel & new-to-me, only to later discover it was first developed eighty years ago.

The part that’s really disheartening is there’s so much knowledge out there, I wonder if this is actually efficient - maybe you can’t reasonably search the state of the art across all of human knowledge and so you have to invent it again. But that’s such a sad outcome.

Re: AI isn’t outthinking mathematicians, it’s out-remembering them

#404

Post by margalabargala »

ip26 wrote: post #403
hibikir wrote: post #198

I suspect that a lot about what we call being very intelligent is ultimately out-remembering people around us. I think of all the times in my software career when I did something that others considered very high performance, it either came down to either having more energy than others at tackling a problem they thought was more trouble than it was worth, or just bringing back random knowledge from previous jobs or se…

Have done a lot of “parallel invention” where I invent something genuinely novel & new-to-me, only to later discover it was first developed eighty years ago. The part that’s really disheartening is there’s so much knowledge out there, I wonder if this is actually efficient - maybe you can’t reasonably search the state of the art across all of human knowledge and so you have to invent it again. But that’s such a sad o…

That's exactly what "AI" is for, though. Suddenly, you can search across the whole of human knowledge and invention.

Re: AI isn’t outthinking mathematicians, it’s out-remembering them

#405

Post by aetherspawn »

copperx wrote: post #389
aetherspawn wrote: post #326

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In line with the other comment on this post: I also am classified as “brilliant” by people and IQ tests. My country gave me an award for being a great inventor. But my memory is worse than anyone I know. I can’t remember the lyrics to any songs, or the lines from any movies, or what I’m doing this week. I don’t think it’s a strong hypothesis. My wife has a nearly eidetic memory, so marrying her was a game changer for…

How do you complement each other in memory? I guess I can imagine, but it would be cool to know.

“Hey any idea where my Kathmandu coat is?” “Yeah you left it under a box in your office 2 months ago, the day we were in a hurry because we wanted to go see Joe”

—

“Hey do you remember where I put my glasses?” “2 sets at the office and your other set is upstairs next to the toothbrushes”

—

At the grocery store: “Do we have apples in the fridge?” “Yeah, 4 left”

Re: AI isn’t outthinking mathematicians, it’s out-remembering them

#406

Post by iamgopal »

bze12 wrote: post #57
ComplexSystems wrote: post #9

It's also "out-brute forcing them." It just never gets tired. If a mathematician picks a research direction and spends a whole week on it and it doesn't pan out, they will likely be annoyed, need a break for a while, etc. This thing just does not ever get tired or discouraged or care; it's just onto the next thing until something ends up working.

AI has sitzfleisch https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Robert_Oppenheimer#:~:text=...

in Gujarati its "Gand vagar no loto". ( Utensil with Round Ass ). I guess every language as its equivalent.

Re: AI isn’t outthinking mathematicians, it’s out-remembering them

#407

Post by rapidaneurism »

grahamburger wrote: post #210
hibikir wrote: post #198

I suspect that a lot about what we call being very intelligent is ultimately out-remembering people around us. I think of all the times in my software career when I did something that others considered very high performance, it either came down to either having more energy than others at tackling a problem they thought was more trouble than it was worth, or just bringing back random knowledge from previous jobs or se…

People have told me I was smart since I was a kid, but I can't remember for shit. I had a thought when I was fairly young that the only reason I was (maybe, sometimes) outperforming others intellectually is that I was habitually compensating for my poor memory by working things out on the fly, while others could rely more on rote memorization. Anyway, takes all kinds I guess!

Same experience here, but it only works in some fields like physics and maths. it totally fails in fields that are "made up" with no rhyme or reason.

Re: AI isn’t outthinking mathematicians, it’s out-remembering them

#408

Post by aurareturn »

the__alchemist wrote: post #134
aurareturn wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When people make these comments about string theory, are they at the forefront of quantum physics theory and have spent years on modern string theory? Or did they just watch a YouTube video and then keep parroting this?

You could reductio ad-absurdum this logic quite broadly. We all form beliefs about the world and its aspects, and almost always through fallible sources. Should one be confident about ones of questionable provenance? I say no. But forming beliefs from the information we have is a useful skill.

Nothing wrong with learning and being influenced. However, many posters on HN are very confident that string theory is a dead end. It makes me question if they’ve done cutting edge string theory or it is just some random software engineers who watched Sabina on YouTube.

The degree of confidence matters here.

Re: AI isn’t outthinking mathematicians, it’s out-remembering them

#409

Post by wdutch »

skydhash wrote: post #297
zamalek wrote: post #274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my, admittedly extremely small sample set, concept-focused memory is common for people with any degree or kind of dyslexia. I used to struggle with understanding how people couldn't understand things, now that I'm more mature it makes sense how people struggled with me not being able to spell things :).

I do not have dyslexia. I’ve been reading since I was a little kid. I don’t easily recall words or things that I’ve heard. But I’ve got a very good visual memory, especially remembering patterns. And I can easily visualize things too, even the somewhat abstract concepts. So if I put a visual bend on something I can quickly understand it and remember it, but that bend has to be mind (even when helped by an image on a…

Thanks for sharing, I am absolutely fascinated with the differences in people's internal experiences.

For me, I have the bad "factual" memory and good "conceptual" memory but unlike you, I also have aphantasia: a completely "dark" mind with no visuals.

I've always used the metaphor that my brain has really good "compression". Once I learn something it gets compressed into my worldview. I don't know how or why I know it but I can apply it. If academic achievement is any benchmark, I can apply it with above average aptitude.

Re: AI isn’t outthinking mathematicians, it’s out-remembering them

#410

Post by jurgenburgen »

nobodyandproud wrote: post #194
devmor wrote: post #160

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a pretty silly belief to hold about science. Plenty of strong, well held standards of the modern era were considered ridiculous fringe beliefs a century ago.

They were testable, no?

Sometimes theories need engineering to catch up to become testable.
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