Research taste in history: the importance of learning Babylonian math

A historian argues that as AI systems become better at routine tasks like memorization and archival research, eccentricity and creative "research taste" will become increasingly valuable in humanities scholarship. The author reflects on how his mentor Dr. Allan Chapman exemplified this rare ability to deeply immerse himself in the alien perspectives of past minds, a skill he believes will be crucial as AI convergences on bland, averaged-out intellectual perspectives.