I think it's a bit of an unfair characterization, see this post for the nuances in how the math community approached the development:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50128468

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zergrush an hour ago | parent [-]

entirely fair.

basically both sides now dislike that he flip flopped

its either you are anti-AI all the way or flexible and adaptive without making strong opinions that can be put on record.

most people are in the latter and its growing. math is solved.

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magicalist an hour ago | parent [-]

> basically both sides now dislike that he flip flopped

No, the dumb thing is the idea that there are "sides".

> basically both sides now dislike that he flip flopped

Literally the only people with this opinion of Tao are internet forum warriors who have no expertise in the field and who's opinion of Tao don't matter in the slightest.

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fooker an hour ago | parent [-]

> who's opinion of Tao don't matter in the slightest.

Similarly, Tao being ‘on the warpath’ does not matter in the slightest when it comes to formalizing math and finding proofs to important unsolved problems with AI.

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magicalist an hour ago | parent [-]

> Similarly, Tao being ‘on the warpath’

Do you think that this is a quote from the article you just read?

I swear half the comments here are just from people reading dunks on r/singularity and x and getting real mad at strawmen.

	▲	fooker 27 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		“I’m on a war footing,” he said while grabbing coffee during a two-day math workshop at the University of California, Los Angeles, that was rife with talk about the existential crisis that artificial intelligence has created in his field.