Once number theory was considered useless and it ended up powering electronic commerce!
M
Markus Schordan
5 years ago
Every good application is rooted in fundamental theory. AI isn't finished, it needs time to evolve and learn about its limitations. And so do the people who use it. People in fundamental research are not redundant, they are more important than ever.
M
Martin Lange
5 years ago
University of Kassel, Germany.
Undoubtedly, A.I. is an important field of science which has led to many useful and innovative inventions. However, before investing into A.I. (further), one should at least have some idea about how to answer the following two questions:
(1) With currently all universities anywhere on earth expanding their activities in A.I., where do all the brilliant A.I. researchers come from to fill all those new positions?
(2) What are we going to do in 2-5 years, when deep learning has been used in every possible application, but we still don't really understand why it does all that it does? Do we then start to employ people from foundational computer science where the expertise on limits and principles of automatic computations lies?
To those who think scrapping foundations in favour of the latest hype in computer science is a good idea: very short-sighted!
P
Prof Dr Paul Vitanyi
5 years ago
A stupid move to disband part of a descipline. You cannot force science to go certain ways It will go where the interest moves for good results.
J
Jurgen Vinju
5 years ago
To cut off the branch you are sitting on; it makes little sense other than probably (very) short term financial interests. The fall will be quick though.
C
Carlo Ghezzi
5 years ago
Orthodoxy to the dominant hypes is a crazy decision by an academic institution!
K
Kelin Luo
5 years ago
PURE Math is important
C
Clifford Harvey
5 years ago
It is a mistake to think that fundamental research in CS or mathematics is disconnected from applications or practical concerns.
L
Luiz Carlos Rumbelsperger Viana
5 years ago
I am studying for a computer science degree in PUC-RJ university in Brazil and would like to pursue a carrer in foundations. Foundational science is not redundant!
S
Salvati Sylvain
5 years ago
Université de Lille, France.
F
Foivos Fioravantes
5 years ago
PhD student in France, with strong focus on Graph Theory.
M
Martin Caminada
5 years ago
Foundations of Computer Science is not just important as a research area, it is also important to be able to teach students on this. A proper academic curriculum isn't just about what's hot and what's trending, it's also about teaching students how to think. Even though I do not do any teaching or research in Foundations of Computer Science myself, I still think this field is an essential part of what every CS student should know about.
M
Meghyn Bienvenu
5 years ago
CNRS, France
P
Pierre Yves Schobbens
5 years ago
AI would have been considered 'non-strategic' just a few years ago.
R
Rosario Pugliese
5 years ago
University of Florence, Italy
R
Rafael Romero
5 years ago
Computer Science department, Buenos Aires University, Argentina
J
Justus Sagemüller
5 years ago
The management seems to think that traditional, theoretical CS is about to be made obsolete by more “empirical” and application-useful AI.
Now, that may in fact be the case – but only in a world where AGI has made not only theoretical CS but also human jobs and, by extension, students and universities obsolete.
Until we get there, the more rigidly mathematical CS very much has a role to play to, at the very least, supplement the domain-specific machine learning systems, but also to better understand and control them.
D
Dietrich Kuske
5 years ago
Is the University of Leicester on its way to become a polytechnic - what about a merger with de Montfort?
S
Srinivasan Keshav
5 years ago
A short-sighted decision that will do much to hurt the University's reputation, making the news for all the wrong reasons.
Once number theory was considered useless and it ended up powering electronic commerce!
Every good application is rooted in fundamental theory. AI isn't finished, it needs time to evolve and learn about its limitations. And so do the people who use it. People in fundamental research are not redundant, they are more important than ever.
University of Kassel, Germany. Undoubtedly, A.I. is an important field of science which has led to many useful and innovative inventions. However, before investing into A.I. (further), one should at least have some idea about how to answer the following two questions: (1) With currently all universities anywhere on earth expanding their activities in A.I., where do all the brilliant A.I. researchers come from to fill all those new positions? (2) What are we going to do in 2-5 years, when deep learning has been used in every possible application, but we still don't really understand why it does all that it does? Do we then start to employ people from foundational computer science where the expertise on limits and principles of automatic computations lies? To those who think scrapping foundations in favour of the latest hype in computer science is a good idea: very short-sighted!
A stupid move to disband part of a descipline. You cannot force science to go certain ways It will go where the interest moves for good results.
To cut off the branch you are sitting on; it makes little sense other than probably (very) short term financial interests. The fall will be quick though.
Orthodoxy to the dominant hypes is a crazy decision by an academic institution!
PURE Math is important
It is a mistake to think that fundamental research in CS or mathematics is disconnected from applications or practical concerns.
I am studying for a computer science degree in PUC-RJ university in Brazil and would like to pursue a carrer in foundations. Foundational science is not redundant!
Université de Lille, France.
PhD student in France, with strong focus on Graph Theory.
Foundations of Computer Science is not just important as a research area, it is also important to be able to teach students on this. A proper academic curriculum isn't just about what's hot and what's trending, it's also about teaching students how to think. Even though I do not do any teaching or research in Foundations of Computer Science myself, I still think this field is an essential part of what every CS student should know about.
CNRS, France
AI would have been considered 'non-strategic' just a few years ago.
University of Florence, Italy
Computer Science department, Buenos Aires University, Argentina
The management seems to think that traditional, theoretical CS is about to be made obsolete by more “empirical” and application-useful AI. Now, that may in fact be the case – but only in a world where AGI has made not only theoretical CS but also human jobs and, by extension, students and universities obsolete. Until we get there, the more rigidly mathematical CS very much has a role to play to, at the very least, supplement the domain-specific machine learning systems, but also to better understand and control them.
Is the University of Leicester on its way to become a polytechnic - what about a merger with de Montfort?
A short-sighted decision that will do much to hurt the University's reputation, making the news for all the wrong reasons.
Please stop shoot Accademic!!!!!!