Nature review: AI has transformed maths — and may outgrow human insight
LucaAmb · x · 2026-11-09
Ananth reviews Strogatz and Townsend's Big Math: The Hidden Codes That Run Our World for Nature, tracing how mathematics came to run the world and produced AI models that might surpass human mathematicians.
The reviewer's favorite passage comes at the end, where the authors ponder losing human insight into the nature of reality in the AI era — "like childhood, insight may be a phase... It's the latest instance of the Copernican lesson."
More from AGI Musings
- Anti-AI Arguments Are Arguments Against Intelligence Itself: A Four-Point Case — JHochderffer · 2026-11-09
- Making up numbers transparently beats hiding behind vibes, researcher argues in EA debate — davidmanheim · 2026-11-09
- Study: AI chats introduce a new vendor in two-thirds of software buying conversations — VeryWellVersed · 2026-11-09
- Hot take: good AI judgment is now the new median reviewer — 3scorciav · 2026-11-09
- AI insider warns public perception will worsen as frontier progress outpaces intuition — manosaie · 2026-11-09
- NYU paper: AI assistants push retail investors into index funds by 7.6pp — danielrock · 2026-11-09