Comment by catlifeonmars
6 hours ago
> but it is very productive in terms of hundreds of proofs being produced that had previously consumed uncountable hours of the brightest minds
You’re making the following assumptions:
1. the exercise of struggling to find proofs was not productive, but this is precisely how new techniques in math were produced. Brute forcing solutions doesn’t lend itself to the creation of much new mathematics (except maybe the exercise of developing verifiable proofs)
2. the point of doing mathematics is to be “productive” in the first place. This is silly. Many people get into mathematics because of the beauty of understanding, for example.
> 2. the point of doing mathematics is to be “productive” in the first place. This is silly. Many people get into mathematics because of the beauty of understanding, for example.
Are they independently wealthy? Or do they have a deal with their local supermarket that they can take food for free?
So maybe we should just pay them more to do math and let them set the direction of research?
If your point is that capitalism fucks up the incentive structure and makes it all about maximizing productivity then I wholeheartedly agree with you.