圣奥古斯丁的画像：“好基督徒应当防范数学家。”照片：洛杉矶县艺术博物馆 读者来信：数学的黑暗艺术与人工智能革命。贝夫·利特尔伍德（Bev Littlewood）提醒我们，在回应一篇社论时，数学一直是推动人工智能崛起的主要动力。你在社论中报道说，一些数学家对人工智能解决纳维-斯托克斯问题感到不安（《卫报》关于人工智能对决数学家的观点：人类对该领域依然至关重要，但科技公司拒绝承认这一点，9月20日）。我担心他们是搬起石头砸了自己的脚：毕竟，数学一直是人工智能革命的主要推动力。
A painting of Saint Augustine: ‘The good Christian should beware the mathematician.’ Photograph: Los Angeles County Museum of Art Letters The dark art of maths and the AI revolution Bev Littlewood reminds us that mathematics has been the prime driver of the rise in AI, in response to an editorial You report in your leader that some mathematicians feel discomfiture at the AI solution to a Navier-Stokes problem ( The Guardian view on AI v mathematicians: humans are still vital to the field, but tech firms refuse to see that, 20 September ). I fear that they have been hoist by their own petard: mathematics, after all, has been the prime mover of the AI revolution.
作为一名地位稍显卑微的数学家，请允许我提醒大家奥古斯丁的名言：“好基督徒应当防范数学家以及所有做出空洞承诺的人。危险已经存在，数学家们与魔鬼订立了契约，使精神黯淡，并将人禁锢在地牢的枷锁之中。”虽然这句名言的准确性以及奥古斯丁的本意存在一些争议，但它此时此刻的贴切程度实在是让人不吐不快。伦敦大学城市圣乔治学院软件工程荣休教授
As a somewhat lowly mathematician, let me remind others of the famous quote of Augustine: “The good Christian should beware the mathematician and all those who make empty promises. The danger already exists that the mathematicians have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and to confine man in the bonds of hell.” While the accuracy of the quote, and Augustine’s meaning, are in some dispute, its appropriateness here is too good to waste. Emeritus professor of software engineering, City St George’s, University of London