The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann

Post by toyg » Sun, Nov 17, 2019, 10:15 AM UTC

cgh wrote: post #102

keiferski wrote: post #21

Can anyone recommend readings on von Neumann that highlight his non-mathematical achievements? Obviously he was primarily a physicist and mathematician, but for a non-mathematician, the long list of academic publications is hard to interpret and appreciate. For example, more in the vein of these: - Reportedly, von Neumann possessed an eidetic memory, and so was able to recall complete novels and pages of the phone di…

I own a biography of von Neumann called "John von Neumann", by Norman Macrae. It is serviceable and gives you a feeling for von Neumann's life, but it is not particularly deep. It does contain examples of the sort of anecdotes you mentioned, however.

Post by aguyfromnb » Sun, Nov 17, 2019, 12:56 PM UTC

Noumenon72 wrote: post #207

spookthesunset wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not nonsense. I can't stand people who post crap like "OMG I can program so I have to have a higher than average IQ". And then they link to articles that support their little circle jerk. No. Sorry. You don't. You are average. I'm average. We are all average. Just 'cause you can code doesn't mean you are suddenly god's gift to intelligence. You aren't. Really. Sorry. You are just as stupid as everybody else. Joh…

You're stunning me here. It's like you're objecting to someone saying gymnasts are coordinated or air traffic controllers can handle a lot of stress. Intelligence is a core qualification for programming, like height for basketball. You can't say "I play basketball, so I'm taller than others", but you can say "We're all basketball players, so we're likely taller than most". We're _selected_ for intelligence.

Post by hootbootscoot » Sun, Nov 17, 2019, 1:58 PM UTC

Post by Yessing » Sun, Nov 17, 2019, 2:00 PM UTC

keiferski wrote: post #26

biolurker1 wrote: post #7

Wouldn't einstein qualify as the most intelligent human ever lived?

Intelligence is a word, a messy abstract concept. If you treat it as an existent quality like height or weight, you end up with absurd questions that have no answers, like "Who was smarter, Picasso or Einstein?"

Post by eismcc » Sun, Nov 17, 2019, 2:50 PM UTC

timmaxw wrote: post #166

dr_dshiv wrote: post #29

Von Neumann invented a novel paradigm for computing using harmonic integration of analog oscillations. The patent was granted after his death. While there were a few prototypes in the 50s, the transistor killed it. A fully functional version of this computational architecture has never been built, to my knowledge: https://patents.google.com/patent/US2815488A/en

For anyone who's interested in more detail: This type of computer is also called a "parametron" ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parametron ). A Japanese researcher named Eiichi Goto independently invented it around the same time as von Neumann, and developed it much further than von Neumann did, so the idea is more often associated with Goto than with von Neumann. The basic idea is that if a nonlinear harmonic oscill…