Amid AI math discourse, Thurston's 1994 'On Proof and Progress in Mathematics' resurfaces
keenanisalive · x · 2026-09-13
Responding to recent discourse around Navier–Stokes and AI mathematics, keenanisalive points to William Thurston's 1994 paper "On Proof and Progress in Mathematics" as saying everything that needs to be said. Written in response to Jaffe–Quinn, the paper argues mathematical progress goes beyond formal proofs of theorems, drawing on Thurston's work on foliations, geometrization of 3-manifolds, and dynamical systems.
Related event: Math debate over AI and Navier-Stokes resurfaces Thurston's classic essay(4 posts)→
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