Portland Public Library

When Einstein walked with Gödel, excursions to the edge of thought, Jim Holt

eng

Includes bibliographical references and index

index present

essays

When Einstein walked with Gödel

bibliography

1004376245

Jim Holt

excursions to the edge of thought

"A collection of essays on philosophy, mathematics, and science, and the people who pursue them"--, Provided by publisherDoes time exist? What is infinity? Why do mirrors reverse left and right but not up and down? In this scintillating collection, Holt explores the human mind, the cosmos, and the thinkers who’ve tried to encompass the latter with the former. With his trademark clarity and humor, Holt probes the mysteries of quantum mechanics, the quest for the foundations of mathematics, and the nature of logic and truth. Along the way, he offers intimate biographical sketches of celebrated and neglected thinkers, from the physicist Emmy Noether to the computing pioneer Alan Turing and the discoverer of fractals, Benoit Mandelbrot. Holt offers a painless and playful introduction to many of our most beautiful but least understood ideas, from Einsteinian relativity to string theory, and also invites us to consider why the greatest logician of the twentieth century believed the U.S. Constitution contained a terrible contradiction—and whether the universe truly has a future. -- Publisher's description

Part I: The moving image of eternity. When Einstein walked with Gödel ; Time -- the grand illusion? -- Part II: Numbers in the brain, in platonic heaven, and in society. Numbers guy: the neuroscience of math ; The Riemann Zeta conjecture and the laughter of the primes ; Sir Francis Galton, the father of statistics ... and eugenics -- Part III: Mathematics, pure and impure. A mathematical romance ; The avatars of higher mathematics ; Benoit Mandelbrot and the discovery of fractals -- Part IV: Higher dimensions, abstract maps. Geometrical creatures ; A comedy of colors -- Part V: Infinity, large and small. Infinite visions: Georg Cantor v. David Foster Wallace ; Worshipping infinity: why the Russians do and the French don't ; The dangerous idea of the infinitesimal -- Part VI: Heroism, tragedy, and the computer age. The Ada perplex: was Byron's daughter the first coder? ; Alan Turing in life, logic, and death ; Dr. Strangelove makes a thinking machine ; Smarter, happier, more productive -- Part VII: The cosmos reconsidered. The string theory wars: is beauty truth? ; Einstein, "Spooky action," and the reality of space ; How will the Universe end? -- Part VIII: Quick studies: a selection of shorter essays. Little big man ; Doom soon ; Death: bad? ; The looking-glass war ; Astrology and the demarcation problem ; Gödel takes on the U.S. Constitution ; The law of least action ; Emmy Noether's beautiful theorem ; Is logic coercive? ; Newcomb's problem and the paradox of choice ; The right not to exist ; Can't anyone get Heisenberg right? ; Overconfidence and the Monty Hall problem ; The cruel law of eponymy ; The mind of a rock -- Part IX: God, sainthood, truth, and bullshit. Dawkins and the deity ; On moral sainthood ; Truth and reference: a philosophical feud ; Say anything