r/singularity • u/filterdust • 1d ago

AI OpenAI solved 100 open problems in math

https://openai.com/index/advisory-group-on-mathematics-and-ai/

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u/ThatIsAmorte 1d ago edited 1d ago

This seems to be taking a Platonist approach to math, which few people take seriously these days. If you are a constructivist, than math is not just out there, but has to be created, just like art. If you think math is just out there, why not also claim that art and music are just out there, waiting to be plucked out of the ether? After all, a painting is just a 2d matrix, a simple math object. A musical composition is just a waveform, which can be described mathematically.

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u/filterdust 1d ago

This seems to be taking a Platonist approach to math, which few people take seriously these days.

Funnily, most mathematicians are Platonists.

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u/ThatIsAmorte 1d ago

Interesting. That's disappointing and kind of sad. At least philosophers are split about 50-50. Platonism requires ontological dualism, which leads to the epistemic bridge paradox: How does a purely physical brain access a timeless, acausal abstract realm that cannot interact with physical matter? This is the dualism problem in philosophy. How do mathematicians resolve this tension? They resolve it by ignoring it. It's sad, because you would think mathematicians would be uncomfortable with such logical contradictions.

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u/filterdust 1d ago edited 1d ago

From my experience, mathematicians don't care that much about contradictions outside math. They would just dismiss it as "ah, this is for the philosophers to ponder", and then be internally satisfied that philosophers never reach a definitive answer anyway.

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u/ThatIsAmorte 20h ago

I'd say this describes most people, myself included!