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Knowledge Collapse - Boston Review

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A passage from Bernhard Riemann’s 1859 paper “On the Number of Primes Less than a Given Magnitude,” proposing what would become known as the Riemann Hypothesis. Image: Wikipedia / Boston Review AI companies are racing to mechanize mathematics. Where does that leave human understanding? Eleven years ago, the mathematician Stefaan Vaes, upon receiving the prestigious Francqui Prize for young scientists from the hands of Belgium’s Queen Mathilde, took the opportunity to tell Her Majesty why we mathematicians choose such a misunderstood profession. “Omdat wij dit graag doen,” he said—because we like it. A few years before that, another Belgian, Pierre Deligne, on the occasion of his selection for the Abel Prize—often called the mathematician’s Nobel Prize—explained that he decided on a career in mathematical research when he learned that “one could earn one’s living by playing.” What both Belgians were saying is that mathematical research constitutes what Henri Poincaré, the great French m

June 10, 2026 This essay is featured in our Summer 2026 issue. Subscribe to get a copy. Eleven years ago, the mathematician Stefaan Vaes, upon receiving the prestigious Francqui Prize for young scientists from the hands of Belgium’s Queen Mathilde, took the opportunity to tell Her Majesty why we mathematicians choose such a misunderstood profession. “Omdat wij dit graag doen,” he said—because we like it. A few years before that, another Belgian, Pierre Deligne, on the occasion of his selection for the Abel Prize—often called the mathematician’s Nobel Prize—explained that he decided on a career

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