On October 13, the New York Times held a podcast interview with Dr. Steven Strogatz, faculty member in the Math Department at Cornell University. Dr. Strogatz is Susan and Barton Winokur Distinguished Professor for the Public Understanding of Science and Mathematics and a Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellow.
The title and description of the podcast were certainly provocative:
When A.I. Comes for Your Purpose in Life
In the span of just a few months, A.I. systems have solved some of the biggest outstanding problems in math — adding mathematicians to the list of those terrified of losing their job to the technology.
Artificial intelligence has gone from struggling with basic arithmetic to helping solve some of mathematics’ most famous open problems — and the field is reckoning with what that means.
Steven Strogatz, a professor of mathematics at Cornell University, describes the excitement and grief of watching A.I. take on work that gives people a sense of purpose — and asks what could be lost if machines deliver answers without the human struggle, insight and understanding that make solving problems meaningful.
Dr. Strogatz does a credible job of describing how quickly A.I. has progressed from being a laughingstock for mathematics just a couple years ago to tackling some of the great unsolved problems in the field. He also does an excellent job of explaining this to a lay audience and comparing these recent advances in A.I. with what had been the historical norms of the thrill of mathematical discovery. (Disclaimer: I would have chosen different metaphors in a couple of places. I don’t consider myself a hero for doing mathematics, and I would have likened proving a theorem to sex.)
The podcast ends with a description with an uncertain look toward the future, including a town hall of faculty and students at Cornell discussing, among other things, “What is the meaning of life?” In context: If A.I. can do the work of theorem-proving… if not now, then soon… then what is the point of studying mathematics in the future? I don’t begrudge any mathematician struggling with such existential questions in the face of what generative A.I. might produce in the very near future.
Dr. Strogatz appeals to the book of Ecclesiastes and Solomon’s similar musings about the meaning of life. I believe that is a more than appropriate source of wisdom, and I also recommend The Problem of Life with God: Living with a Perfect God in an Imperfect World, a discussion of Ecclesiastes by my former pastor (now semi-retired) Tommy Nelson.
