Finite insights: why AI's science boom may trigger a deeper slowdown
binarybits · x · 2026-10-30
Blogger binarybits pushes back on Noah Smith's "AI golden age of science" thesis: the universe may hold a finite number of insights to discover. AI can help us mine the remaining ones faster in the short run — but that implies a more pronounced slowdown in subsequent decades once they're exhausted. He frames AI as just the latest round of "throwing more brains" at research, extending the current rate of progress rather than changing the long-term trend.
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