Chasing open questions, it seems to me, is worthwhile for the things learned along the way. Do you expect these results will be helpful, or is it just a sign that we need a new way to navigate uncharted spaces now that longstanding problems don't stand long enough for us to organize around?

It feels a bit like having "visited" a place because you had a layover there.

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cman1444 39 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

I hope it's more like discovering islands of information which we can use as footholds to connect the dots between them.

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brap 39 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

If knowing the answer is not valuable then asking the question wasn’t valuable to begin with.

We should remember that math exists primarily to serve a purpose and that purpose is not being a fun puzzle hobby for a select few mathematicians.

Imagine a programmer telling their boss it’s not about working software it’s about the journey of writing the code. Good luck getting hired.

I think if pro mathematicians don’t change their tune quickly they will soon see their funding approach zero.

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Kotlopou 36 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

I don't understand this dialogue, which seems to repeat with every result of this sort. Of course this is interesting! And of course the answer tells us something! And of course we also want to understand where it came from! None of this is in contradiction!

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unknownian 23 minutes ago | parent | prev [-]

If you were a math grad student, would you rather your advisor be telling you to LLM maxx your ideas or working with you and giving you ideas on your thesis personally? I know my answer.

	▲	brap a minute ago \| parent [-]
		To say that we must have people that know how to X, because otherwise no one will be able to teach how to X, is kind of circular reasoning. Why is X important to begin with? What’s its inherent value to society?