Terence Tao weighs the tradeoff: 100 solutions, 90 publication-quality writeups, 10 left behind
tak3sh8 · x · 2026-09-09
Terence Tao posted a thought-experiment thread: if a field can generate 100 solutions to problems in a year, spending an extra month could yield 90 publication-quality writeups, leaving 10 solutions without formal writeups. He uses this to examine the economics of discovery versus writing in research, and what that tradeoff means in an AI-assisted era.
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