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There's never been a better time to go into math (by: 3blue1brown) [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKrwhjOI8Nc
57•mdp2021•22h ago

Comments

gleenn•37m ago
3blue1brown has the absolute most educational and entertaining videos. Always fascinated by his animations which are custom programmed by him. I also appreciate the diversity of topics covered from deep math to software to science.
mibsl•33m ago
Too early to tell, but IMO unlikely. Let's see what his take will be once an AI can propose a topic, write the script, animate, and narrate a good educational math video.
firefoxd•30m ago
That's already happening. And we call it AI slop.
mibsl•27m ago
"good"

EDIT: And don't get me wrong, I hope it doesn't happen for a long time, ideally never. But what would his arguments be if it does?

gobdovan•17m ago
I tried watching 3b1b over the years, really wanted to enjoy it. But I never found the way he presents things intuitive and never got a palpable intuition that helped me with math classes or work.

I saw some clearly AI slop made videos and got much better understanding of topics, since they don't do foreshadowing for an awe-inspiring connection that we'd admire together after 15 min videos, the clankers just get to the point. Not claiming those videos are too useful either, but I did however see accelerated learning gains from asking LLMs to explain (and do Bret Victor-style small interactive demos) math and algos, something I have never experienced from any of the educational STEM Youtube channels.

pxtail•21m ago
He won't care because he has established position and is set. It will be just like everybody else - if the individual is at the top of the food chain then he/she is all over it how you are using it wrong and how you should use it (don't forget to follow and subscribe).
markus_zhang•13m ago
Yep, that's what I see in the CS field -- people at the top are advocating AI and don't understand why the hell the others are hesitant. I meant the top engineers, not the management. I look up to them because of their skills, but that doesn't mean I need to agree with everything they said.
caaqil•25m ago
In other news, there's never been a better time to be a software developer. Come to think of it, there's also never been a better time to invest in learning copy-editing and proof-reading as a side hustle. It's a Brave New World. Everything is fine, the demand just got expanded, the pie got bigger, nothing more. New doors will be opened, nothing has changed; in fact, everything improved. Stochastic parrots are no match for our carbon-based g.
jwpapi•18m ago
I mean if you read some history it’s not the first time complete workforces have been replaced. It doesn’t mean the same jobs stay, but usually there will be something to do.
markus_zhang•14m ago
I doubt demand expanded much. I mean there is just that many games/whatever apps that the whole humanity needs. Maybe ti will go up a bit, like 50%, but getting 10x (or very easily 1000x if we just vibe code them) in supply doesn't change that.

Instead, people who sell shovels win big.

tcdent•18m ago
What does it mean to "go into" math?
TuxedoBuddy•16m ago
According to the video he means pursue it as an academic endeavor.
atoav•14m ago
I suspect people who are deciding what to study will do so on the basis of a multifactor view of what interests them, how they predict their career will be after finishing said study etc.

There ought to be people watching his channel who wonder whether given all these AI advances math is even worth studying now.

cadamsdotcom•16m ago
A couple of thoughts in agreement..

First, "cognitive labor" is a form of labor - it's different vs. creative work, even though both use your mind. If your math theorem can be written up in partnership with an LLM, wow! You can be done with that, and go do other great work. Cognitive labor is a form of labor. Let's talk about physical labor and leverage to understand how removing labor translates to time. On your farm you buy a tractor to replace your backhoe. If it is a hobby farm you get in the tractor and you're done super fast. Or, you can take that tractor, buy a bigger farm, and spend the same amount of time you'd have spent backhoeing, but in a far more leveraged way. You can trade removed labor for time in a way that suits you.

Second; the joyful moments we get from finding generalizable abstractions and nice solutions are an adaptation. Humans can climb infinitely high conceptual hierarchies - we'll never stop climbing, using the previous ones as tools to find the next. As we do, we gain joy with each discovery because. We get so much done with brains that run on 20 watts - are we tuned to receive a neurochemical reward for finding cognitive efficiency? If AI means more concepts are discovered the tower gets taller - and we find those joyful moments more often. If there are infinite moments to be found, why not go as fast as possible!

Third; everyone else is doing it, it's a baseline skill. Knowing how to work without AI is like knowing how to ride a horse. Useful and fun! Bedsides - only 150ish years ago horses were the only viable transport. Cars were new; toys for the rich. But cars got so good so fast that we eventually reconfigured whole cities. Your homework is to consider why and how horses got disrupted.

New divisions are emerging in the lump of roles humans had at work. AI takes away roles from your job and lets us do more with less. That's identical to every mechanization before it. It's killing some roles that make up your work, even as it creates new ones.

There's so much to be excited about. Fear is a rational response to change. But so is hope :)

hn_throwaway_99•4m ago
> AI takes away work and lets us do more with less - just like every mechanization that came before!

No, it's not the same as mechanization. The fundamental difference, and why I find it illogical to argue either for "AI will open up tons of new work avenues" or "AI will kill all jobs" is that it all hinges on whether AI "caps out" at an intelligence level below humans (in at least some domains/capabilities), or if it is able to surpass human intelligence at all levels.

If the former is true, then yes, there will be a lot for humans to do. If the latter is true, then no, there will be no reasonable cognitive role for humans to play (beyond perhaps for some legal, "nostalgic" reasons or what not). So whether one decides to be optimistic or pessimistic really depends on if you think AI will stay at a level below humans. I really don't know, so I'm not "taking sides" in this debate.

anitil•11m ago
I actually remember that in an old interview (that I can't find sorry) Grant Sanderson said he moved in to YouTube because he thought it was a more promising career than being mathematician, it's interesting to see his opinion change.

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There's never been a better time to go into math (by: 3blue1brown) [video]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKrwhjOI8Nc
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