Two things are simultaneously true about math: Understanding is important for those who want to use that math and/or build more math It’s useful (or can be useful) even to people who don’t have any desire to use that math and/or build more math If someone stumbles upon an anonymous notebook with the solution for some important mathematical problem that they don’t understand, they obviously cannot be credited for solving the problem, but they should be credited for discovering the notebook (which, they did do). More importantly, the solution, if correct, will benefit mathematicians and, depending on how practically applicable its insights are, non-mathematicians as well from the innovations that are eventually borne from it. As such, shouldn’t we be happy that the notebook was found? Now, suppose the person who found the notebook is also a skilled mathematician who actually understands the solution, including some key elements that nobody except whoever wrote it thought about before, would we ever know if they hide/burn the notebook and claim to have constructed the solution themselves? If the true author of the notebook comes forward, or if other authors come forward claiming that at least some parts of the contents in the notebook are derived from their earlier work, certainly there should be thorough examination of everyone’s claims so that proper attribution of credit could be made. However, if the true author of the notebook never claims it, would we rather the “pretender” never found the notebook instead? Finally, suppose it turns out that this was not the only notebook with an important solution in it, and indeed, it is made known that many others are possibly hidden out in the wild, waiting to be found, even by people who are not experts in mathematics, how should we feel about that? Will it actually drive the experts to no longer want to work on their math? If their expertise still makes them much more likely to find these notebooks than any non-expert, does the existence of these notebooks make them better or worse off? Yes, this is also about Millennium Prizes. submitted by /u/Neither-Remote-3419
Originally posted by u/Neither-Remote-3419 on r/ArtificialInteligence
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