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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

#411

Post by zahlman »

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…

> I don't think I've had a truly original idea in my life. Combine A + B, when it's rare for people to know A and B at the same time.

There is also something to be said about recognizing that A + B can be combined.

And also in accurately judging that other combinations will be useless and avoiding them.

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

#412

Post by matherial »

maleldil wrote: post #279
bonoboTP wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is not specific to math. To non-academics, you basically have to rewrite your commit history to make it seem more impressive. You often write the motivation section last. At least math publication culture allows saying "We consider the problem of" and then solve it. In AI/ML academic papers you need much more "story" around why, what the applications are, why aren't you doing something else, defend against lack-…

Yeah, publishing in ML can be annoying because of that. What's wrong with "I thought this problem was interesting"?

Because your institution's PR department and the journal you're publishing in want the publicity of "scientist cures cancer". And you probably wrote "I'm curing cancer" in your grant application, team charter, or whatnot.

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

#413

Post by enquirewithin »

password4321 wrote: post #77
bze12 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

My browser doesn't do the fancy URL text selection... sitzfleisch: the ability to endure or carry on with an activity Something Oppenheimer did not have, apparently.

Don’t worry, the link provided by the GP did nothing to explain what was meant anyway.

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

#414

Post by dingaling »

zahlman wrote: post #411
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…

> I don't think I've had a truly original idea in my life. Combine A + B, when it's rare for people to know A and B at the same time. There is also something to be said about recognizing that A + B can be combined. And also in accurately judging that other combinations will be useless and avoiding them.

Yes, I think that identifying patterns and applying the appropriate combination of A+B to solve is true intelligence. It's a combination of knowledge, insight and inspiration.

In the UK organisations such as GCHQ ( Brit NSA ) use brain teasers as a recruitment and filtering tool.

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

#415

Post by enquirewithin »

spankibalt wrote: post #116
RGS1811 wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is fantastic. Now I have a sophisticated-sounding german word for my attention deficit.

There's also a less flattering reading of the word, where Sitzfleisch means having a "flat ass" (from sitting too much, e. g. Sitzfleischparade describing a group of flat-arsed people, or something like Sitzfleischmaxxer , and so on).

Ass-maxxing.

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

#416

Post by enquirewithin »

alex43578 wrote: post #241
nobodyandproud wrote: post #189

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We Americans call it grit.

The connotation of grit to me feels different. Grit is pushing through adversity, rather than just tedium.

Maybe.

Grit can be the courage to endure adversity.

It can also be the resolve to endure tedium.

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

#417

Post by cheema33 »

OroPla wrote: post #197
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?

I also just keep parroting that the Earth is not flat and a bunch of other things I've been told and then never questioned, since it seems to make sense. When the flath-earth craze started I've been trying to at least get that bit actually personally verified. Haven't managed to do it to this day, though. So I'll just keep parroting various things without properly understanding them. C'est la vie.

> When the flat-earth craze started I've been trying to at least get that bit actually personally verified. Haven't managed to do it to this day, though.

How do I say this in the most gentle way I can...?

Your brain is broke. No, seriously. If you can help it, try not to argue with anyone about anything, ever. You have a demonstrated inability to think clearly.

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

#419

Post by enquirewithin »

ashleyn wrote: post #69
bze12 wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Wow, what a great comparison. LLMs are great at reasoning but absolute dogshit at simple arithmetic. If there's a raw calculation involved I always tell it to use python to add it all up.

The abacus seems to date back around 4500 years.

If your goal is to implement an absurd comment you can use this one next time: instruct your LLM to implement Conway’s Game of Life to implement an abacus.

Because, you know, humans are notoriously poor at implementing the x86-64 instruction set in their minds. This is why God had to create Guido van Rossum.

Arguably Mathematica would be a better fit, but there are those who frequent this corner of the Internet who rather not have to read anything that might cause them to think about Stephen Wolfram.

So I won’t mention it.

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

#420

Post by enquirewithin »

aurareturn wrote: post #100
tengbretson wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

String theory is a great example of a dead end kept alive by ego and sunk cost fallacy. An AI would have declared it dead and moved on 10 years earlier.

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?

I watch three YouTube videos.

The Lambda-CDM model seems to be a dead end, but instead of recognising that, picking themselves up, and moving on, the Lambda-CDM Model Industrial Complex simply papered over the gaping holes with magical thinking.

Sciencism.

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