| Contents |
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 VII: 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. |
| Summary |
"A collection of essays on philosophy, mathematics, and science, and the people who pursue them"-- Provided by publisher. |
| System details |
Mode of access: World Wide Web. |
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Format: Adobe EPUB eBook. |
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Format: Kindle Book. |
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Format: OverDrive Read. |
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Requires Adobe Digital Editions or Amazon Kindle. |
| Other edition |
Original 9780374146702 |
| Subject |
Essays.
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| Genre |
Essays.
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Electronic books.
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| Other corporate author |
OverDrive, Inc.
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| ISBN |
9780374717841
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| STANDARD # |
8DC800D1-29A6-424A-BBA1-DE634DDD3C30 OverDrive |
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