The Garden and the Tree: how AI will split mathematics into two distinct communities
yeastsplainer · x · 2026-09-17
A thoughtful long-form essay envisioning mathematics bifurcating into two communities: the 'garden' of deep human understanding (Tao's and Erdős' 'Book' vision), essential to preserving mathematical culture since humans can't grow brain tissue or bandwidth; and the 'tree' of rapidly growing AI mathematics — not mathematics proper, lacking logical certainty, closer to empirical study of a physical phenomenon, with provisional fruits and whole branches that may die. The author argues for a distinct name and clear demarcation for this new field, says tree-watching is a legitimate AI-era job closer to amateur astronomy than math (deep understanding even interferes with it), but insists the tension between the poles must be maintained: monks who eat too much of the tree's fruit lose the garden — and with it, the all-too-human artistic aspect of mathematics.
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