Are Computers Ready to Create Mathematical Proofs?

DoraLives writes "Interesting article in the New York Times regarding the quandary mathematicians are now finding themselves in. In a lovely irony reminiscent of the torture, in days of yore, that students were put through when it came to using, or not using, newfangled calculators in class, the Big Guys are now wrestling with a very similar issue regarding computers: 'Can we trust the darned things?' 'Can we know what we know?' Fascinating stuff."

Comments

Rumsfeld, anyone?

[dolo666]

> 'Can we know what we know?' Fascinating stuff.

Reminds me of Rumsfeld... "Reports that say that something hasn't happened are always interesting to me, because as we know, there are known knowns; there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns; that is to say we know there are some things we do not know. But there are also unknown unknowns -- the ones we don't know we don't know."

Re:Rumsfeld, anyone?

[jgabby]

Then there's:

My boss, who knows that he knows not;
But pretends that he knows that he knows;
And he's so convincing at it, that;
People who know that he doesn't know;
Beleive that he knows that he knows anyway.

Re:Create vs. Verify

[panaceaa]

Fortunately for you software researchers haven't programmed computers to create their own long sentences with so many prepositions that human readers of the created sentences are unable to remember the subject or figure out which verb, or possibly adjective, the trailing adverb applies to by the time they have read the entire sentence yet!

Re:Create vs. Verify

[eliza_effect]

Can you please tell us The Question?

The Ultimate Question?

Yes!

Of Life, The Universe..

And everything?

And Everything.

Yes.

Tricky..

But can you do it?

...No. But I'll tell you who can.

Who? Tell us!

I speak of none, but the computer that is to come after me.

What computer?

A computer whose merest operational parameters I am not worthy to calculate and yet I will design it for you. A computer which can calculate The Question to the Ultimate Answer. A computer of such infinite and subtle complexity that organic life itself will form part of it's operational matrix. And it will be called.. The Earth.

What a dull name.