2h ago

Ethan Mollick, Wharton associate professor, says mathematics advances quickly for AI because outputs are verifiable with minimal subjective judgment and urges labs to prioritize sociology, economics, and psychology research instead

Ramez Naam lists formal structures and instant verifiability as drivers of rapid gains in math and code

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Original post
OPEthan Mollick#175Ethan Mollick@EMOLLICK

Math is easy* because it has verifiable outputs and few messy judgement choices to make. Which AI labs have the guts to make advancing social science a priority? It may actually do more for human flourishing to unlock sociology, econ & psych reseach. * For AIs, not for humans

6:09 PM · May 20, 2026 View on X
QUOTE POSTBojan Tunguz#687Bojan Tunguz@TUNGUZ

The biggest bottlenecks in social sciences are not intellectual or methodological. The biggest bottlenecks are political and ideological. There are certain topics in social sciences - including research on human intelligence! (!!!!) - that are so stigmatized that no one who is in those fields can seriously pursue them without jeopardizing their career, or worse.

Ethan MollickEthan Mollick@emollick

Math is easy* because it has verifiable outputs and few messy judgement choices to make. Which AI labs have the guts to make advancing social science a priority? It may actually do more for human flourishing to unlock sociology, econ & psych reseach. * For AIs, not for humans

1:09 AM · May 21, 2026 · 12.7K Views
2:08 AM · May 21, 2026 · 2.7K Views
Ethan Mollick, Wharton associate professor, says mathematics advances quickly for AI because outputs are verifiable with minimal subjective judgment and urges labs to prioritize sociology, economics, and psychology research instead · Digg