Derek Thompson

OpenAI has published hundreds of results in number theory, theoretical computer science and logic, many on problems that resisted the best mathematicians for decades. Derek Thompson's essay says the mathematicians weep because a shared conversation across generations just got cut short.

On HN, one commenter was "kind of disgusted by the tears" and blamed decades of chasing results and money. Another checked the pay at their own university: two associate professors on $80-85K, after postdocs that push tenure-track starts into the mid-30s.

Derek Thompson's dive into the 1926/1933 'Recent Social Trends' report argues America's present unease over technology, work, family and values rhymes with a century ago, when the car, radio and rural-to-urban flight destabilized the old order. Life is materially far better now, he insists, yet the emotional echoes are real.

The thread turns it into a referendum on progress. One reader notes wealth was more concentrated in the 1920s; a Xoogler argues the poorest American today outlives Rockefeller.