Mathematics is political

I have often heard mathematicians saying, “We do not like politics” and “We just want to focus on research”. This is typically a reaction to forces or actions that could potentially challenge the privileges that they have enjoyed so far, or, if I am being charitable, a genuine misunderstanding of what “political” means. The recent involvement of Big Tech in mathematical research is igniting both soul-searching in our community and direct political movements. For example, the Leiden declaration, The Association for Human Mathematics (AHM), and \begin{proof}. This is a welcome change, and I hope that the community is able to take some immediate actions to counter the influence of Big Tech, and “Big Mathematicians” who endorse it. Here are some articles that I recommend reading: How we can win by Tasmin Chu Knowledge collapse by Michael Harris Mathematics is not rational, really! by Michael Harris The crisis of AI-generated mathematics by Max Weinreich The fall of the theorem economy by…