Yep, I think a lot of them are grieving the loss of their identity. Quite understandable given how much of their life force they've poured into math, especially at the level of that Tao is at.
replyIt makes me think of the book Finite and Infinite Games. It provides a perspective that work is just one role that we _choose_ to assume in our life. Realizing that we can choose other roles and move in and out of them freely has helped me alot with big changes (career and otherwise) in my life.
This is very much true, but whole generations have been brought up to be their profession. I have a friend who was a priest. His whole life he had aimed at this role and invested in it, it was no longer a thing to do but his identity. Then he fell out of his belief and as a consequence suffered tremendously because his whole being was tied into that role. He's doing ok now but for a while I thought he wasn't going to make it. Of course 'priest' isn't just any job like software developer or truck driver. But still this job/identity issue is very pervasive.
reply> All the arguments about the future mathematicians are imagined, and emotional.
replyEven if you don't like, at this moment, AI cannot replace mathematicians.