A Physicist Let Claude Fable 5 Close an Open Problem in Stochastic Thermodynamics, Then Published It as an X Article Because arXiv 'Seems Absurd'
Gavin Crooks — of the Crooks fluctuation theorem — posted a full paper on 2026-08-15 in which the abstract, derivations and text were, in his words, entirely 'derived and written by Claude Fable 5,' solving the constraint structure of the detailed fluctuation theorem p(σ)/p(−σ)=e^σ that had previously been chipped at one inequality at a time since 2019. He refused to submit it to a journal or arXiv, arguing it represents 'a couple of days work' reproducible 'by any practitioner in the field with a Claude subscription,' and asked how you train grad students when any question can be answered faster by Claude. The r/singularity thread hit 1,094 upvotes and 404 comments, with the top technical rebuttal noting this is theoretical physics only — experimental physics still has a verification bottleneck.
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