Makale

The mathematical sciences in an AI-enabled world

The Academy for the Mathematical Sciences, which is based in the UK, has released a report “The mathematical sciences in an AI-enabled world“. To quote from the release: The paper examines how recent advances in artificial intelligence are changing mathematical research and its applications, bringing new opportunities for discovery, verification and the use of mathematics […]

Terence Tao · EN

Mathematics has changed. Let’s act like it

[This is a guest post by Frank Calegari. This blog post was initially written in a different file format and converted using AI. — T.] Why we should not be sad The release by OpenAI on October 6 of over 700 research papers was a watershed in the history of mathematics. AI is now undeniably […]

Terence Tao · EN

Egoless Mathematics in the AI Era

[This is a guest post by Karthik C. S., Amit Sahai, and Jie Xue. This blog post was initially written in a different file format and converted using AI. — T.] This is a good time for mathematicians to think carefully about the purpose of their work. The development of artificial intelligence brings that question […]

Terence Tao · EN

The Mathocalypse

More Updates (Oct. 12): Jeffrey Ketchersid has used Claude Code agents to show that BusyBeaver(10) exceeds Graham’s number, beating the previous best result that BB(13) does so. In response to my request, a couple days later Jeffrey also used Claude agents to show that the value of BB(335) is independent of ZFC, improving the best […]

Scott Aaronson Shtetl-Optimized · EN

Podcasts about the Topic

“The Topic” being, of course, the Mathocalypse, except sometimes with AI alignment and even quantum computing and complexity theory and other stuff thrown in. With Ryan Peterman: Notably, near the end of the above podcast, you can watch my live reaction to the news that an Anthropic model found algorithms for the 3SUM and the […]

Scott Aaronson Shtetl-Optimized · EN

AI Alignment Theory Course: Readings and Rapporteur Reports!

As I announced on this blog a couple weeks ago, I’m teaching a new course this semester at UT Austin, entitled AI Alignment Theory. To call such a course “timely” seems like an understatement; this is the first course I’ve ever taught for which multiple gargantuan developments relevant to the course have happened while I […]

Scott Aaronson Shtetl-Optimized · EN

Vote!

Today, I take a break from your regularly-scheduled AI mathocalypse programming to urge my American readers to vote in the Congressional midterms, early if possible, if you haven’t already. Especially if your state faces one or more major contests, as does my adopted home state of Texas. Me, I voted straight-ticket Democrat today, as I’ve […]

Scott Aaronson Shtetl-Optimized · EN

Vote! (Israeli edition)

Someone writing an article for the Israeli press about “people abroad who love Israel but might be worried” emailed me the following questions: “1. What is something about Israel that you admire/appreciate over the years? 2. What are you worried the most about Israel these days?” So I replied as follows: “It’s hard to know […]

Scott Aaronson Shtetl-Optimized · EN

Podcasts about the Topic: Part II

As always, I strongly recommend 2x speed, which compensates somewhat for my verbal infelicities! New! More podcasts keep dropping! This one is with the AI alignment researcher Roman Yampolskiy, about … well, AI alignment, plus the Mathocalypse, plus quantum computing, plus whether the universe is a simulation, and I forget what else! Man do the […]

Scott Aaronson Shtetl-Optimized · EN

Talk by Dana Moshkovitz: The Unique Games Conjecture – Proved (!!?)

In my “Mathocalypse” post, I mentioned that my wife Dana—who’s been working on Subhash Khot’s Unique Games Conjecture since ~2009, for the entire time I’ve known her—has for the past few weeks (while on sabbatical at the Simons Institute in Berkeley) been spending essentially all of her time laboring to understand OpenAI’s recent proof of […]

Scott Aaronson Shtetl-Optimized · EN

Podcast about the Topic: Part III, with Brian Greene

Boooooo! What spooooky times we now live in, with AI rapidly advancing in capabilities and solving more and more major open math problems! So it seems like a perfect occasion to share yet another podcast. I know I’ve been dropping them like every day, but this is a special one, with Brian Greene for his […]

Scott Aaronson Shtetl-Optimized · EN

Planar Graphs—Again

Professors Yin Tat Lee and Thomas Rothvoss are faculty at the Allen School of the University of Washington. Lee has the A.W. Tucker Prize that recognizes the best doctoral thesis in optimization in the past three years. Rothvoss, who holds a dual appointment in the Allen School and the Department of Mathematics, earned the Delbert […]

Gödel's Lost Letter · EN

Fulkerson Prize

The Fulkerson prize is given to: outstanding papers in the area of discrete mathematics and is sponsored jointly by the Mathematical Optimization Society (MOS) and the American Mathematical Society (AMS). Up to three awards of \$1,500 each are presented at each (triennial) International Symposium of the MOS. This year: * Ben Cousins and Santosh Vempala […]

Gödel's Lost Letter · EN

Guess Which Way?

Math problems get solved from time to time. Today I wonder if they are solved the way we guessed they were going to be solved? For example do most feel that P vs NP is likely to be equal or unequal? William Gasarch has conducted three polls of researchers concerning this question. Confidence that P […]

Gödel's Lost Letter · EN

Foundations of Computer Science

Santosh Vempala is the chair of this FOCS 2024 conference. Here is the schedule of the talks. And in our next section are the accepted papers with links so you can see the results now. His committee is: Daniel Alabi, Columbia Nima Anari, Stanford Maryam Aliakbarpour, Rice Xiaotie Deng, Peking University Jelena Diakonikolas, Wisconsin Alina […]

Gödel's Lost Letter · EN

Biblical Codes

This Sunday’s NYTimes had an article on Eliyahu Rips who just just passed away at 75. He was an Israeli mathematician known for his research in geometric group theory. He had became known to the general public years ago following his co-authoring a paper on what is popularly known as Bible code, the supposed coded […]

Gödel's Lost Letter · EN

Women In Theory

My dear wife, Kathryn Farley, just woke me this Friday the 20th from a nap with something that she said was amazing. She told me it was the top most viewed video of the entire day—over a million views. It was indeed terrific—especially for a video by women who work in complexity theory. A Result […]

Gödel's Lost Letter · EN

Rabin has just passed away

Rabin has sadly just passed away at 94. This is a short piece on honoring him immediately. More is planned for the future. His work has touched key areas of mathematics as well as central areas of computer theory. Without his work theory would be completely different today. Michael’s work is an incredible mine with […]

Gödel's Lost Letter · EN

A Question

The Question I recently restarted working on this CS theory blog. One reason that I took a bit to get it going again is really stupid. Really silly. And perhaps I should not talk about it. It does not make me look smart. But here it goes anyway. My email system stopped working recently. I […]

Gödel's Lost Letter · EN

It Shouldn’t Exist But it Does: Astronomers Find Green Star

Astronomers have found a green star. That’s not supposed to be possible, because stars hot enough to be green also mix all colours together and end up looking white. But some dying stars have atmospheres so dense that they filter out entire parts of the spectrum, which can make them look pink, purple or turquoise. Let’s take a look.

Sabine Hossenfelder · EN

14-Year-Old Wins Prize for New Theory of Dark Energy

A 14-year-old from Canada just won a prize for a new theory of dark energy. I had a look at what he submitted, and it ticks all the boxes of a typical journal paper. That’s more remarkable than it sounds. Let’s take a look.

Sabine Hossenfelder · EN

It's Not Going Well for Small Modular Reactors

Small modular nuclear reactors were supposed to make nuclear power cheaper and faster to build. Governments from the US to the UK are now pouring billions into them. At the same time, one startup after another is going bankrupt. What’s going on? Let’s take a look.

Sabine Hossenfelder · EN

New Climate Report Sparks Outrage

Climate sceptics are calling it “organised crime,” a “coup d’état,” and “worse than Climategate.” Their target is a new report from the US National Academies of Sciences about extreme weather attribution. I had a look at it, and I understand why they’re unhappy.

Sabine Hossenfelder · EN

The Problem With Plastic Is Not What You Think

We’ve been told for decades that a plastic bottle lasts 450 years, or even that plastic never goes away. But how would anyone know, given that plastic has only been widely used for about a century? Recent research tells a different story, and it’s both better and worse. Let’s take a look.

Sabine Hossenfelder · EN