Terence Tao: better math tools flatten a field's difficulty landscape
burny_tech · x · 2026-09-09
Terence Tao writes that every new advance in mathematics—whether from technique, technology, or infrastructure—reduces problem difficulty, flattening a field's difficulty landscape until promising questions blur. Yet such tools also enlarge the sphere of reachable results, creating new boundaries to explore. A notable framing from a top mathematician as AI reshapes research.
Related event: Terence Tao: New Tools Flatten Mathematics' Difficulty Terrain(2 posts)→
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