Despite the negative character of this and other results which are often taken to bear on the status of \(\textbf{P} \neq \textbf{NP}\)?, resolving this and the other open questions remains an important topic of research in theoretical computer science. Several programs for separating complexity classes have recently been explored using techniques from circuit complexity (e.g. Razborov and Rudich 1994), proof theory (e.g. Buss 1999), and algebraic geometry (e.g. Mulmuley and Sohoni 2001). However, the current consensus (e.g. Fortnow 2009) is that these approaches are still in need of substantial refinement or that genuinely new methods will be required in order to yield the desired separations.