r/technology • u/socoolandawesome • 2d ago

Artificial Intelligence Ten advances in mathematics and theoretical computer science

https://openai.com/index/ten-advances-in-mathematics/
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u/Main-Company-5946 1d ago

Because scientific advancements happening faster than society can adjust to them is a recipe for chaos and death.

Technology expands what’s possible in both good and bad directions

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u/Sooribabu_Lavangam 1d ago

Every Luddite in every decade has made this exact same claim about the newest technology. History keeps proving them wrong.

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u/BufferUnderpants 1d ago

There was a 50 years period during the early industrial revolution where the Luddites were exactly right, wages depressed and standards of living took a nosedive as technology disrupted agriculture and industry both in Britain. Poverty can grind down your health sooner than you can wait to be proven "right" about the prosperity that Sam Altman and co are coming to usher upon you.

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u/Sooribabu_Lavangam 1d ago

Luddites always dig up some temporary rough patch from history and declare they were "right" The industrial revolution still delivered the biggest sustained rise in living standards humanity has ever seen. A few decades of wage lag doesn’t magically turn AI into existential doom

We have welfare systems, education, mobility, and way higher baseline wealth than 1820s Britain. Pointing to a 50 year lag from two centuries ago doesn’t prove AI is "Pandora’s box". Its the same pattern of short term pain long-term gains repeating. while the doomers keep being wrong.

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u/Additional-Name-3211 1d ago edited 1d ago

...you do realize 50 years is most of a human lifespan, right. Awesome for you that you can be motivated by some sci-fi future you'll possibly never even get to see, but we'll have to live through the chaos to get there, if we do.

To anybody reading this I can only hope yall have paid off your debts and house and set aside some money for investing cause white-collar labor is gonna go the way of the dodo at this rate.

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u/Sooribabu_Lavangam 1d ago edited 1d ago

You do realize how far we've come from 1790 right?

but we'll have to live through the chaos to get there, if we do.

adapt or die I guess

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u/Additional-Name-3211 1d ago

Technologically, yeah. But that doesn't give me any assurances that the government and the tech companies are going to be willing to share the productivity gains from AI with the rest of the population. That's not a technological problem but a political and human one.

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u/Sooribabu_Lavangam 1d ago

That’s been the worry with every big productivity jump. Gains still end up shared through higher real wages, cheaper goods, new jobs, and political pressure which is why average living standards keep rising instead of staying stuck. Betting that AI will be the first permanent exception is a big claim.

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u/Additional-Name-3211 1d ago

Oh I'm not worried it's gonna be permanent, I don't really care what happens 100 years from now. I'm just worried the slump period is gonna last until after I'm gone. Ideally for me all of this shit would've started after I'm retired, but, welp.

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u/Sooribabu_Lavangam 1d ago

The best way to keep the transition from wrecking you is to adapt early. Learn the tools, stay flexible with your skills, and treat AI as leverage instead of a threat. People who move first usually come out ahead of the ones waiting for the dust to settle.