A few years ago I was in a pure math degree, but I switched and graduated with a combined degree in math and computer science. Once I finish my masters degree I intend to work on industry applications of formal methods, which I anticipate will be a high-growth area for the next few years. The idea is to take advantage of the growing ability to generate proofs/code and work on keeping the messy human side of the equation up to speed. So I plan on addressing the social and operational aspects which come with delegating more work to AI. I'll work on integrating these gains into the industry, on building trust in the work that AI produces, and I'll work on the interface that lets us ensure that this trust is deserved.

But nothing is certain. I am trying to avoid overspecialization and remain flexible, just as you advise. If this path fails I might become a paramedic or physiotherapist.

> No one succeeds in making accurate predictions of the future over a 40 year time scale.

The sports analogy holds; the future location of the ball may be uncertain, but that is the student's target, and not overcommitting to the present location of the ball. The commenter is expressing disappointment that the commentary seems to be reacting to the present too much.

> accurate predictions of the future over a 40 year time scale

I think the problem is the reverse. We no longer can make good predictions for four years ahead, certainly not eight.

And yet, people have to make choices - so they need advice and some kind of hope of a guess.

> you might have to change careers.

I hope this is some dust dry humor!

We need to be working on upgrades. For us. Advice for everyone: Whatever happens, take care of your health. One of the few things that is probably not a mistake.

Don't go classically into that qubit night.

We might not be able to precisely predict where the ball will move, but I think GP is implicitly saying "don't assume the ball doesn't move", which IMHO is kind of baseline, but seems to be over the head for some people that are now complaining.

Some of those complaining today are the ones who keep saying "LLMs are just stochastic parrots predicting the next word", "how can AI do math if they can't even count the number of 'r's in strawberry?", etc.

It doesn't take a genius to realize AI will start getting better and possibly become a "threat" even before all this mathocalypse stuff happened.

If AI continues to improve at the current rate for 40 years then there is unlikely to be such a thing as a career.

Manual labor and trades is likely to be one of the last things to go, so the whole "dropout of school and go into trades" crowd may have been more correct than ever, though their original reasoning was not.

Will any careers exist? How do you even plan for that

UBI is politically dead on arrival in the U.S.

A lot of people put a lot of their self-worth into their work and that’s a good thing that won’t change.

I was recently trying to work out what advice I should be giving my 15 year old son, I asked various AI for their recommendations given "possible" AI time frame and it seemed pretty much study whatever you want but always add " and business". Investing in things that AI will just make better. However, in the case of AI improves robotics to the point it's better than humans... who knows. But all that may not pan out as reality. For me, AI is still making a lot of the same mistakes it was making last year, it's very marginally improved in some aspects (not quite sure how to categorize what its failing at, but its like an over eager worker who really doesn't understand what they are working on but super keen to do stuff). It's gotten a lot better at doing more from single prompts. But it feels like, for LLMs at least, they are bumping into limits. But it can be hard to see because at the same time they are actually doing more. More and more I feel like what I'm doing is getting more ambitious in what I'm asking and then a big cycle of correcting.

I would probably tell them to not study math.

I think that's a really unfair characterization of GP's post. They didn't talk about "target where the ball is going" as am empty platitude - they specifically pointed out that they need to plan for a career that will last ~40 years, and on the contrary a lot of these posts by math luminaries seem to be filled with a lot of "hopium" and platitudes that won't help pay the bills if it turns out the world needs a ton fewer mathematicians.

> What specific direct advice would you give then if you could talk to someone who is currently studying math?

Do it for personal satisfaction, but find another way to pay the bills.

FWIW, I did like that the article at least acknowledged that the fundamental question is whether LLM-based approaches will eventually "max out", i.e. will they be limited to the "convex hull of ideas outlined in literature" as the article out it.

If LLMs do eventually hit a wall, then great, humans will still have a role to play. If not, though, we're all completely fucked - none of this nonsense about "humans managing agents" or providing "unique human insight" and what not, as agents will be more than capable of managing themselves and providing superior insight.

Chess has always been "just a game". Sure, it teaches valuable life lessons, and it is fun to defeat your opponents through superior training and strategy, but it is "just a game".

Mathematics was historically "just a hobby". Much theoretical work is still "just a hobby". But, for the past few hundred years, humans that better understood the theory could find very profitable applications.

That is no longer true. Computers have solved mathematics, like they did chess two decades ago. A human will never find a better application than a computer, just like they will never find a better chess move. Yet people still play chess, and people still make money tutoring chess.

That is the future of humans in mathematics. Mathematics will become mathematics competitions. It will be just another intellectual sport. Sure, a sport that teaches valuable life lessons, but still "just a game". If you are going into mathematics today, your future career is as a competition mathematics coach.

Thanks gramps, you're right I should have gone with the PID controller analogy.

Please don't cross into personal attack. It's against HN's rules, and it's never necessary.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html