Stan Ulam has a great book discussing his worry about the change in research environments pre-wwII vs post-WWII. Before the war, they’d sit in cafes and draw in tables and just sit and think sometimes as a group. After they would meet in offices with blackboards and no life in the room or fun with direct funding telling them exactly what to study. I think his concern will be shown to be sound.

I wonder if LLMs can help bring that kind of exploratory culture back. Because this is not an exploratory culture.