The Academy
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Exam fellows at All Souls College, Oxford: the exam questions
Last year’s exam questions are circulating on Twitter. Fun questions, many quite interesting.
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Open AI’s math proofs
Reader Blake Myers calls to my attention this story about the mathematical proofs released by OpenAI. Dr. Myers kindly compiled what seemed to him the most interesting or important results here. The total collection of papers is here. Readers knowledgeable about math are welcome to comment on these, how they will affect mathematics, etc.
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Faculty strikes at Edinburgh, Dundee, and Nottingham in the UK…
…as the financial catastrophe in UK higher education continues. (Thanks to Courtney Cox for the pointer.)
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Do as I say, not as I do
Via Moti Gorin: “At Dartmouth, Dr. Schnell’s A.I. use in public writing came up in an investigation in August by the news site Semafor about A.I.-created writing appearing in the opinion pages of major publications. That investigation said an Aug. 9 commentary by Dr. Schnell [the Dartmouth Provost] in The Washington Post was written by…
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The decline in humanities majors
The latest from the AAAS. The decline has a simple explanation: the extravagant cost of college education.
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A survey of academics about their AI use…
…from Oxford University Press. Does this ring true to readers based on their experiences?
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Editors (!) of higher education journal publish editorial about academic freedom…
…with multiple fake references! I trust these editors will soon be ex-editors. (Thanks to Moti Gorin for the pointer.)
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UCLA Law School hosts a conference on the legal consequences of the response to 9/11…
…on the 25th anniversary of the attacks. Right-wing garbage media go crazy, and UCLA Chancellor issues statement condemning the event at his own law school! UCLA law faculty issue their own statement in response. The Chancellor should resign, he has no business leading a serious research university.
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On AI and the universities
An interesting piece by philosopher Anastasia Berg (UC Irvine) at CHE. Once again (given reader interest), I’m opening comments for discussion and reactions to Professor Berg’s essay.
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“A Severe Misalignment of AI in Mathematics”
A statement by 25 Fields Medalists in mathematics. Some of their case applies, I would venture, to philosophy. An excerpt, but do read the whole statement: [T]he push by AI companies to solve mathematical problems as a benchmark is detrimental to the science of mathematics, and to the mathematical community. The goals of the AI…
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The “availability bias” and myths about universities
Philosopher Steven Hales makes the point effectively.
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“AI and the University”
Following up on this, philosopher Dan Kaufman, who taught for a quarter-century at Missouri State University, shares a draft of his provocative remarks being presented today at Florida Gulf Coast University. Some of this seems to me right, some debatable, all interesting. Comments are open, and signed comments will be preferred. Professor Kaufman’s text follows:…
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The “Leiden Rankings” of world universities are absurd…
…and stand out even in a field dominated by nonsense. For example: It’s true that Chinese universities have made remarkable strides, and some of them host superb centers of research and education. However, they aren’t nearly as dominant as those rankings suggest. To borrow a phrase from Mao Zedong, many Chinese universities are paper tigers:…
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Welcome to Rutgers! (Welcome to any serious university)
Via Alex Guerrero on FB, I came across this well-done “welcome” address by Rutgers President William Tate (it’s called “My Hopes for You,” September 8, in case it gets displaced by other “community messages” on the linked page). He even works in Dolly Parton, and in a nice way. Anyone starting college should read it.
Then my question is how many of ordinary mathematicians also qualify as artists of their profession…