On the map

At the centre Engineering has no correct answers the way mathematics and science do; it is the best solution available at the time, and everything is a trade-off. Holds NENeetCode Read this korrent →

• Same subject: mathematics A proof and an explanation are different things, and a theorem can stay an unsolved expository problem long after it is proved. Holds GSGrant Sanderson
• Same subject: mathematics A stream of AI-written papers with any error rate at all becomes insufferable, because finding the error costs more than the paper is worth even at ninety-nine percent. Holds GSGrant Sanderson
• Same subject: mathematics Academic credentials — grades, major, the prestige of the degree — barely matter to industry hiring. Holds PMPatrick McKenzie
• Same subject: mathematics Aesthetics is truth: when something is beautiful it is likely to be correct, in code as in mathematics and physics. Holds DHDavid Heinemeier Hansson
• Same subject: mathematics AI could compete with human mathematicians once it acquires a mathematical sense of smell: knowing which way of splitting a problem makes it easier rather than harder. Holds TTTerence Tao
• Same subject: mathematics AI in chess and mathematics does not explain anything; it says which position is better, and humans build the theory from that. Holds LFLex Fridman
• Same subject: mathematics AI learning to generate good conjectures will never show up as a benchmark being knocked down; it will show up as a shift in how mathematicians talk about the tools. Holds GSGrant Sanderson
• Same subject: mathematics AI will revolutionise mathematics by giving it an experimental side: large-scale data on which methods work, rather than the careful solving of individual problems. Holds TTTerence Tao