The reason we (as in university-funding society) need mathematicians is so that there's a steward over math that can help me, a complete layman, understand and apply mathematics. "Being a steward" will sometimes not look like much. Sometimes it's just going to be dicking around with LLM's.
But math is too important for it to be abandoned by humans and left to models. I, the tax-paying bonehead engineer, need mathematicians to exist. They can have their ego beaten up by Claude, sure, whatever, but they're not allowed to just close up shop in despair.
But math is too important for it to be abandoned by humans and left to models. I, the tax-paying bonehead engineer, need mathematicians to exist. They can have their ego beaten up by Claude, sure, whatever, but they're not allowed to just close up shop in despair.