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shminux comments on Mathematics and saving lives - Less Wrong Discussion
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It is impossible to predict with any certainty whether your favorite area of "pure math" will become "applied math" and when. Crypto is one standard example, and, if you believe in what MIRI is doing, then foundational/meta math like the proof theory has suddenly become applied. And once there are practical applications, the potential for "saving lives" is always there. Certainly Godel didn't think of saving lives when working out his [in]completeness theorems. So one who wants to save lives ought to do what one is best at, to maximize impact, and not worry about "saving lives" as an explicit goal. Unless, of course, you are best at translating science into saving lives.
When working on crypto I'm not sure whether you are more likely to kill people by breaking an encryption algorithm or rescue people by fixing something.
I don't see how he did safe lives by working on them. Could you explain?
He hasn't yet, but if you believe that MIRI will eventually save humans from UFAI, and given that some of the basic work they do relies on his results, one can make a case for Godel inadvertently helping to save lives.