Top all-time · #6854
Michael Harris
Personal blog · siliconreckoner.substack.commathaiphilosophy
Michael Harris writes Silicon Reckoner, a personal blog at siliconreckoner.substack.com about math, ai and philosophy. Since 2021, 12 different Hacker News readers have linked it 13 times, most often “The Central Dogma of Mathematical Formalism”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2026-10-22, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (6) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN commenters cite Michael Harris's Substack posts on mathematics and AI, including Terence Tao's use of AI, and a review of David Bessis's book Mathematica. The comments do not judge the writing itself.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 6 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
What computers will do for, or to, mathematics and mathematicians.
Most-linked posts?
- The Central Dogma of Mathematical Formalism3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2024-03-20
- The Future of Math Research in the Age of AI2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2026-02-22
What Hacker News says?
You have conveniently skipped the "Philosophical Objections" section in Wikipedia which i had pointed out and which would have given you some hints as to what i am saying. > A proof of a program's correctness is mathematical in nature, it doesn't stand apart in some distinct non-mathematical realm ... I think this is really a disagreement on phraseology though, nothing deeper. It is mathematical in nature but if the…
Comment linking /p/the-central-dogma-of-mathematical
on “Mathematics for Computer Science (2024)”Submitted The Creativity Code as a story · 18 points
HN discussionSome mathematicians are afraid of being censored or only becoming mechanics. "What some people like to call the progress of mathematics has always consisted in the subversion of paradigms. Pierre Deligne made this point in a lecture on Voevodsky’s univalent foundations: he said it reminds him of Orwell’s Newspeak, where the ideal was to have a language where it is impossible to express heretical thoughts." https://s…
Comment linking /p/the-central-dogma-of-mathematical
on “The Mechanics of Proof”Submitted The Future of Math Research in the Age of AI as a story · 4 points
HN discussion> are not doing the science correctly What do you mean ? These are top-notch mathematicians who are genuinely trying to see how these tools can help solve cutting edge research problems. Not toy problems like those in AIME/AMC/IMO etc. or other similar benchmarks which are gamed easily. > that others (e.g. FrontierMath) already did everything they claim to be doing You are kidding right ? FrontierMath benchmark [1]…
Comment linking /p/the-frontier-math-scandal
on “First Proof”Submitted The essay on the Navier-Stokes story that everyone should read as a story · 2 points
HN discussionThe greatest living mathematician uses it for Math https://siliconreckoner.substack.com/p/terence-tao-on-machin... To me it seems like people who are confident in their expertise generally find it useful, even if it's imperfect
Comment linking /p/terence-tao-on-machine-assisted-proofs
on “Google Search Is Dying. What Comes Next Is Worse”Submitted About That Erdős Problem as a story · 2 points
HN discussionIt's more nuanced than this. Peter Scholze said in response to this declaration: > The goal of mathematical research is human understanding of mathematics, and so mathematics can only thrive in a community of human mathematicians. It is crucial to preserve this communal spirit. [0] Terence Tao has also talked about the requirement for a mathematical proof: along with generation and formal verification, there is an i…
Comment linking /p/the-leiden-declaration-on-artificial
on “Mathematicians issue warning as AI rapidly gains ground”Submitted The Central Dogma of Mathematical Formalism as a story · 2 points
HN discussionThere are a few mathematicians that have analyzed and wrote about their process. A recent (IMO) good writing on the subject is David Bessis' "Mathematica" (I found this review https://siliconreckoner.substack.com/p/review-of-mathematica... which I haven't had a chance to fully read). It covers both a personal perspective as well as examples from Grothendieck, Descartes and others. Having had the opportunity to have…
Comment linking /p/review-of-mathematica-by-david-bessis
on “Cultivating a state of mind where new ideas are born”Submitted Google's data grab grabs mathematics as a story · 2 points
HN discussionSubmitted Future of math research in the age of AI as a story · 1 points
HN discussion
