The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann • Hacker News Board

Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann

#231

Post by geoka9 » Sat, Nov 16, 2019, 7:36 PM UTC

karolist wrote: post #205

geoka9 wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> to do things that put your awareness into your moving body as much as possible Could you explain it in simpler terms?

I think this means do things that need you to think consciously about your body coordination. So dancing, rock climbing, motorcycle Enduro racing etc

Interesting. Does that mean that mostly relying on muscle memory is not as beneficial in this context? E.g. if you're already good at some technical sport (e.g. tennis, basketball), playing it wouldn't be as beneficial as, say, learning a new dance?

Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann

#232

Post by 7thaccount » Sat, Nov 16, 2019, 7:36 PM UTC

acqq wrote: post #197

chasd00 wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

you can't attribute staying out of nuclear conflict to any head of state, morality, or even logic ( there was plenty of luck involved ). For example, after Kennedy resigned himself to striking the sites in Cuba during the missile crisis it was someone else who told him he was wrong and reconsider. (see the documentary Fog of War) To put a fine point on it, even after all the brinksmanship, analysis, diplomacy to reso…

> There are plenty of examples where, basically, a roll of the dice saved civilization during the cold war. The destruction of society during the cold war was prevented by luck as much as anything else. The systems are still in place and even today the danger of "accidental" start of the complete destruction of the current civilization is completely real. I always recommend a book subtitled "Confessions of a Nuclear…

There is a documentary on Prime (Command and Control) that covers three incidents in the US where nuclear bombs almost went off.

Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann

#233

Post by philwelch » Sat, Nov 16, 2019, 8:41 PM UTC

ScottBurson wrote: post #127

chx wrote: post #36

> In 1945, von Neumann proposed a description for a computer architecture now known as the von Neumann architecture, Do note that he proposed a description but it wasn't his idea. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Draft_of_a_Report_on_the... > some on the EDVAC design team contended that the stored-program concept had evolved out of meetings at the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School of Electrical Engineering…

Aha — Stigler's law strikes again. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stigler%27s_law_of_eponymy

I'm disappointed Stigler's law was actually coined by Stigler.

Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann

#234

Post by philwelch » Sat, Nov 16, 2019, 8:44 PM UTC

GhettoMaestro wrote: post #158

Merrill wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>He died at age 53 on February 8, 1957, at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., under military security lest he reveal military secrets while heavily medicated. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_von_Neumann#Illness_and_d...

Makes you wonder what secrets he took to the grave. Thus the military security right up to the very end.

Design details for nuclear weapons would be the obvious possibility.

Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann

#235

Post by RivieraKid » Sat, Nov 16, 2019, 8:49 PM UTC

hi41 wrote: post #211

I am curious to know. Why does the Jewish community have a disproportionately large number of extremely intelligent people as evidenced by the number of Nobel laureates and other great intellectuals?

I was interested about that too and after some research the likely explanation is that people with an Ashkenazi ancestry have a higher intelligence thanks to genetics.

Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann

#236

Post by MrBuddyCasino » Sat, Nov 16, 2019, 9:34 PM UTC

codingslave wrote: post #183

corporate_shi11 wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting. I never knew about the link between Ashkenazi genetics and intelligence.

Its not talked about alot, but basically ashkenazis are the genesis of alot of modern intellectual ideas and companies. both FB and Google are ashkenazi creations

Uber too, Adam Neumann is Ashkenazi Jewish.

Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann

#237

Post by wes-k » Sat, Nov 16, 2019, 9:47 PM UTC

calhoun137 wrote: post #125

kragen wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's interesting! Have you made progress on self-replication? I think it's a very important problem. I've made some notes categorized under topics/self-replication.html in http://canonical.org/~kragen/dercuano-20191110.tar.gz , but of course I'm no Johnny von Neumann.

Von Nueman is on the record as saying he believed computers were a sub field of self replicating machines. I believe they will be very important in the future and will have many applications. Not really, unfortunately. I think it would be fun to build a 3d printer that can replicate itself, but have not tried building any prototypes because besides being too expensive I also havent taken my research into that far eno…

You may want to check out https://reprap.org/wiki/RepRap which is exactly this type of 3D printer. I don’t think it’s 100% though.

Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann

#238

Post by doubleunplussed » Sat, Nov 16, 2019, 10:07 PM UTC

majos wrote: post #216

oumua_don17 wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really. From the wikipedia page on eidetic memory [1]: ``` Although the terms eidetic memory and photographic memory are popularly used interchangeably,[1] they are also distinguished, with eidetic memory referring to the ability to view memories like photographs for a few minutes,[3] and photographic memory referring to the ability to recall pages of text or numbers, or similar, in great detail.[4][5] When the c…

I think the test case (which nobody has passed) for true photographic memory is: you are given an image of a bunch of random dots with no apparent structure, then you are given a second such image, and you have to mentally combine them and say what image they form. Because if you superimpose the two images of random dots — say using transparent slides, one on top of the other —- they actually form a photograph of Mar…

I don't know if I agree that it's a good test. If I had two images in front of me of random dots, I cannot superimpose them and see a picture of Marilyn Monroe, no matter how long I can look at them. (ah, actually I could go cross-eyed to make them overlap in my field of vision, but I can't do it mentally).

I could imagine a "spot the difference" type of test would be a good one though. The fields of random dots are identical save for one dot, and you have say where it is. Something like that.

Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann

#239

Post by fourthark » Sat, Nov 16, 2019, 10:53 PM UTC

philwelch wrote: post #233

ScottBurson wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aha — Stigler's law strikes again. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stigler%27s_law_of_eponymy

I'm disappointed Stigler's law was actually coined by Stigler.

> Stigler himself named the sociologist Robert K. Merton as the discoverer of "Stigler's law" to show that it follows its own decree, though the phenomenon had previously been noted by others.

Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann

#240

Post by dumbwork » Sat, Nov 16, 2019, 11:05 PM UTC

daseiner1 wrote: post #161

spookthesunset wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If you're intellectually gifted (many programmers are) Lets not jerk each other off too hard, eh? Just like everybody in life, in any trade or profession, most programmers are just average people like everybody else. They just happened to luck out and be good at a talent that pays well. Odds are incredibly high you aren't any smarter than somebody who paints houses for a living, fills your prescription, or plays fo…

[flagged]

>Interestingly you refute the idea that intelligence determines someone’s “worth,”

Well, this is true: intelligence does _not_ determine someone's worth.

Ultimately how intelligent you are is irrelevant providing that you _can_ provide value.

>Still rats in the race, just rats with a slightly higher score on a particular dimension.

Yes, but surrounded by other rats with a slightly higher score on a particular dimension.

But anyone can still learn how to do it: abstract reasoning us not reserved for the "intelligent", it's open to anyone who is of average intelligence at least.