Lectures on Tap - "AI, Mathematics, and the Value of Struggle"

Professors, experts, and storytellers giving thought-provoking lectures in NYC bars. 📍 Location: Exact address given in confirmation email 🧠 Lecture: AI, Mathematics, and the Value of Struggle 🎤 Speaker: Dr. Michele Caselli Join us for an evening exploring how artificial intelligence is transforming mathematics—and what we risk losing if we outsource too much of the work to machines. Drawing on his experience in Differential Geometry and Partial Differential Equations, Dr. Michele Caselli will take us inside the real, messy process of doing mathematics, where struggle, false starts, and failed attempts are essential to building intuition and judgment. Dr. Caselli will argue that the search for solutions creates forms of understanding that never appear in the final polished proof—and that AI’s “premature answers” may erode this crucial space for learning. He will examine how AI could decouple the production of new results from the formation of new mathematicians, and what that means for incentives, education, and the future of expertise. Using mathematics as a case study, the lecture will open onto a larger question relevant to many professions: what tasks should we gladly hand over to AI, and what practices should we protect because the act of doing them is itself a source of human growth and value? Get a drink, connect, and learn at Lectures on Tap! 🙌 Agenda 6:30 PM – Doors open: find a seat (open seating!), order food & drinks, and expect a bar line—arriving early is key. 6:55 PM – Host introduction 7:00 PM – Lecture begins 7:45 PM – Audience Q&A 8:00 PM – Have 1:1 time with the speaker, mingle with fellow guests, and order another round 8:30 PM – Wrap up.