We don't know whether the search for further Mersenne primes eventually gives birth to a new algorithm which will enable further advances in other fields.
Cranking on the current best known algorithm for testing for Mersenne primes does nothing to advance the state of the art for other algorithms, though.
It’s like saying, we have a project that keeps sorting larger and larger sets using quicksort because we believe it will help advance the state of sorting algorithms. ‘We just sorted the largest ever set!’
It’s like saying, we have a project that keeps sorting larger and larger sets using quicksort because we believe it will help advance the state of sorting algorithms. ‘We just sorted the largest ever set!’