Peter Woit
Mathematician and Senior Lecturer in the Mathematics department at Columbia University. Author of the book Not Even Wrong and of the long-running physics blog of the same name.
Peter Woit did not write this page. ppll compiled it from their own words, each linked to the source. Is this you? · Report a mistake
Latest Blog
What they believe
-
Bringing AI firepower to bear on pushing forward a complicated proposal that was stalled for good reason isn’t likely to lead anywhere interesting.
Bringing AI firepower to bear on pushing forward a complicated proposal that was stalled for good reason isn’t likely to lead anywhere interesting.
math.columbia.eduSaid 8 Oct 2026This on korrents
-
Mathematicians using AI agents to produce proofs should have to disclose in detail how the agents were used, the way experimental scientists must describe their methods.
the math community needs to adopt a version of the ethical standards of experimental science. If you are using AI agents, you can't just give a proof (formalized or not), but need to also provide a detailed explanation of how these agents were used to get the result.
math.columbia.eduSaid 9 Sept 2026This on korrents
The bold line is korrents’ wording; the quote is theirs. These 2: what they wrote before what they said aloud, one per source, newest first.
Beliefs
Korrents What they believe 14 beliefs — each backed by an exact quote.
Each is a — compiled by korrents.com, not by them: the one-line wordings are korrents', the quotes are theirs.
Recent
Bringing AI firepower to bear on pushing forward a complicated proposal that was stalled for good reason isn’t likely to lead anywhere interesting.
Bringing AI firepower to bear on pushing forward a complicated proposal that was stalled for good reason isn’t likely to lead anywhere interesting.
AI and Chiral Fermions Said 8 Oct 2026
Mathematicians using AI agents to produce proofs should have to disclose in detail how the agents were used, the way experimental scientists must describe their methods.
the math community needs to adopt a version of the ethical standards of experimental science. If you are using AI agents, you can't just give a proof (formalized or not), but need to also provide a detailed explanation of how these agents were used to get the result.
A Modest Proposal Said 9 Sept 2026
AI agents are going to have major consequences for how mathematics research is done.
The new AI agents have profound implications for mathematics research and I think the math community needs to start discussing specific ways to deal with these.
A Modest Proposal Said 9 Sept 2026
Show 11 more
Israel's actions in Gaza, the West Bank and Lebanon amount to ethnic cleansing and genocide.
this is all about support for the ongoing Israeli campaign of ethnic cleansing and genocide, which continues with daily slaughter of civilians and demolitions of their homes and communities in Gaza, the West Bank, and now southern Lebanon.
The Situation at Columbia XXXVII Said 8 Sept 2026
The current US government uses false antisemitism accusations to damage and control institutions it views as enemies.
The Fascist regime now ruling the US both enables this and has effectively used bogus accusations of "antisemitism" to damage and exert control over prominent institutions they consider to be enemies.
The Situation at Columbia XXXVII Said 8 Sept 2026
Framing anti-genocide protests as antisemitic and unsafe began under the Biden administration, not Trump's.
The campaign to paint anti-genocide demonstrations as "antisemitic", violent and threatening to people's "safety" began not under Trump but under the Biden administration.
The Situation at Columbia XXXVII Said 8 Sept 2026
Cumrun Vafa's 'dark dimension' torsion balance experiment does not amount to a genuine testable prediction of string theory.
This is complete nonsense, a shame that The Economist has been taken in by it.
This Week’s Hype Said 26 Aug 2026
AI is being used to scam the public in science and academic communication.
One thing that is showing up is that, in hep-th as elsewhere, AI is being used to scam the public.
HEP-TH and AI Said 16 Aug 2026
AI agents have not yet produced anything genuinely new or important in mathematics.
So far I haven't seen AI agents doing anything new and important that I would care about, but maybe that's just a matter of time...
Requiem for a Field? Said 26 Jul 2026
Frontier AI models are turning out to be more capable at technical work than expected.
The results have surprised me: these things are a lot more capable than I had expected.
Requiem for a Field? Said 26 Jul 2026
In an intellectually dead research field, feeding AI decades of meaningless work only produces more meaningless output.
in an intellectually dead field, AI will just produce worthless junk. If what you feed it is decades of complicated and meaningless computations, it will just produce even more complicated and meaningless ones.
Requiem for a Field? Said 26 Jul 2026
String theory has produced no significant new ideas and may be a dead field.
I see nothing that looks like a significant new idea or any evidence this isn't a dead field.
Various and Sundry Said 15 Jul 2026
AI agents are starting to have a major positive impact on mathematical research.
While in mathematics AI agents are starting to have a major positive impact on research (e.g. by resolving the Jacobian conjecture), the situation is very different in hep-th.
Various and Sundry Said 15 Jul 2026
AI-generated junk papers risk overwhelming the hep-th physics field with worthless content.
The result is something completely worthless, but not obviously distinguishable from many other things on hep-th, which is in serious danger of going from something sad and unhealthy to something completely overwhelmed with crud.
Various and Sundry Said 15 Jul 2026
What is a korrent?
A korrent is a belief a person has stated in their own words: one sentence stating the claim, backed by a quote and a source, kept at korrents.com.
Under a name here, the quoted block is what they actually said. The korrent beneath it is the claim those words support, in korrents' wording — tap it to see the record, its source, and who else holds it.
Nobody here wrote their own korrents. They are compiled from public statements, and a person can change their mind, which is recorded too.
Recommends rcmnd
rcmnd What they recommend 9 things — each backed by an exact quote.
Compiled by rcmnd.app, not by them: the quotes are theirs, and each links to the post it was copied from.
Recent
Liked Lectures of Sidney Coleman on Quantum Field Theory
David Kaiser has contributed an introduction to the book (available here , or, if this doesn't work, try here ) which does an excellent job of putting the material in historical and intellectual context
math.columbia.edu 29 Jan 2019
What others say about Lectures of Sidney Coleman on Quantum Field Theory →
Recommends Fly Fishing Treasures
Finally, the new book you really should buy a copy of is my brother Steve's Fly Fishing Treasures
math.columbia.edu 29 Jan 2019
Liked Quantum Space: Loop Quantum Gravity and the Search for the Structure of Space, Time, and the Universe
Jim Baggott has a very good new book out, entitled Quantum Space
math.columbia.edu 29 Jan 2019
Show 6 more
Recommends ABC of Physics: A Very Brief Guide
If you want an overview of the subject that is as short as possible, this is for you.
math.columbia.edu 24 Jan 2013
Loved The Conceptual Framework of Quantum Field Theory
I've recently gotten a copy of a wonderful new quantum field theory textbook, Anthony Duncan's The Conceptual Framework of Quantum Field Theory
math.columbia.edu 24 Jan 2013
What others say about The Conceptual Framework of Quantum Field Theory →
Liked Lectures on Quantum Mechanics
It covers concisely and well most of the standard topics that are make up a quantum mechanics course at this level
math.columbia.edu 24 Jan 2013
Liked Théorème Vivant
It's basically a fascinating journal he kept during 2008-2011
math.columbia.edu 24 Jan 2013
Disliked The Cosmic Landscape: String Theory and the Illusion of Intelligent Design
That book struck me as embodying the worst aspects of where string theory has ended up, promoting to the public in a high-profile way a dangerously pseudo-scientific excuse for string theory's failure.
math.columbia.edu 24 Jan 2013
What others say about The Cosmic Landscape: String Theory and the Illusion of Intelligent Design →
Liked The Theoretical Minimum: What You Need to Know to Start Doing Physics
He has a new popular book out which is quite good, entitled The Theoretical Minimum
math.columbia.edu 24 Jan 2013
What others say about The Theoretical Minimum: What You Need to Know to Start Doing Physics →
Where they publish
Site math.columbia.edu/~woit His Columbia Mathematics page: 'About Me', research, teaching and material on his book Not Even Wrong.
Link verified 4 Sept 2026.
Blog Not Even Wrong Blog on mathematics and fundamental physics, running since 2004.
Recent
- AI and Chiral Fermions 8 Oct 2026 It turns out that yesterday there was another AI result coming out of OpenAI, quite different than the slopocalypse and of more interest to fundamental physics. Nathaniel Craig, a particle theorist now on a one-year vis…
- Slopocalypse 6 Oct 2026 OpenAI has just released a vast number of new results in preprint form, see here. These are the products of an internal frontier model. About the AGMAI, they say they “have drawn on their advice and public recommendatio…
- Some HEP-TH News 25 Sept 2026 In a previous posting, I’d noted that the number of arXiv hep-th preprints/month was significantly higher recently, clearly due to LLM use, but that I hadn’t heard of much in the way of significant new results coming fr…
Show 7 more
- A Modest Proposal 9 Sept 2026 The announcement yesterday by OpenAI of a solution to the Millennium Prize Navier-Stokes problem has been causing a great deal of discussion among mathematicians. There’s a lot to be said about this story and its implic…
- The Situation at Columbia XXXVII 8 Sept 2026 Ever since a new Columbia president (Jennifer Mnookin) was appointed by the trustees back in January, many have been wondering if she would do anything to try and change Columbia’s reputation as “Vichy on the Hudson”. T…
- The 92-Year-Old Mathematician and the Teenage Apprentice 7 Sept 2026 As an antidote to the overwhelmingly depressing news of the world, I highly recommend reading the new article in the New York Times about this mathematical result. There have been some articles about this earlier in pla…
- This Week’s Hype 26 Aug 2026 The Economist today reports that New theories and experiments should shine light on string theory. This is more of the promotional campaign for Cumrun Vafa’s “dark dimension”. We’re told that a torsion balance experimen…
- HEP-TH and AI 16 Aug 2026 I’ve been talking to people and seeing a lot of discussion about the effects of AI agents on math research, but haven’t found much serious discussion of what is happening in hep-th research. I’m curious to hear from tho…
- Requiem for a Field? 26 Jul 2026 Kevin Hartnett posted the following Friday: My profile of @Jacob_Tsimerman, published the morning he won the Fields Medal, and hours before he announced he’s going to @OpenAI, reads like a requiem for a field. While I’m…
- Various and Sundry 15 Jul 2026 Some things that might be of interest: The ICM is starting next week in Philadelphia. One traditional aspect of the ICM is the announcement of the Fields Medal winners. This year there won’t be much surprise, since evid…
Link verified 4 Sept 2026. Recent items update automatically from the channel.
About the English under a post
Some people here publish in a language other than English. Where they do, this site shows a machine translation beneath the post, in this typeface — the site's own, not theirs.
The post itself is never changed, moved or hidden: what is set in the serif above is exactly what the person published, and it is what to quote them on. A translation can be wrong in ways that matter, especially about tone.
Only the post's own words are translated. A quoted post, a linked article and a belief on korrents.com are left in their original language.