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The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann (2019)

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Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann (2019)

#61

Post by chrisbrandow »

adverbly wrote: post #56

Is it just me or does it seem like there something like there were a lot of celebrity-level STEM heroes to come out of the early 20th century. These folks all seemed to work together closely. Maybe these things take time, but it just doesn't seem like there is anything remotely like this going on today, despite far greater access to education and increases in global population. Is it perhaps that the limelight is les…

It was a relatively small community, even before Manhattan project they all knew each other. Academic science is still very much like this, but the difference now is that there are so many more scientists, very few of their results are known to a wide audience.

Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann (2019)

#62

Post by belter »

practicalpants wrote: post #49

Always in awe to read about assemblies of great minds like at Princeton's IAS. Does another such assembly exist today? I don't think it does but want to know if others can point to one. Did it happen then because the discoveries were "low hanging" enough that they would be found eventually, such that today we've basically exhausted the major discoverable parts of nature given human limitations, like a depleting orebo…

Just reading the duties of his assistant makes you realize you should really reserve the word Genius for a few. And he certainly was one of them:

"The Duties of John von Neumann’s Assistant"

https://www.cantorsparadise.com/the-duties-of-john-von-neuma...

Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann (2019)

#63

Post by ducktective »

Rochus wrote: post #13

> von Neumann proposed a description for a computer architecture now known as the von Neumann architecture Well, he actually described an already existing design by Eckert and Mauchly under his name and this paper was illegally disclosed. For the ones interested in this and other fascinating stories about ENIAC, here is a good book: https://www.amazon.com/Eniac-Triumphs-Tragedies-Worlds-Compu... ; worth reading is al…

How come it's known as "von Neumann" architecture?

Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann (2019)

#64

Post by Koshkin »

smnplk wrote: post #46
hintymad wrote: post #3

I often use von Neumann's quote, "Young man, in mathematics you don't understand things. You just get used to them.", to console myself when I have to read a math book multiple times to really understand something. The quote also has truth in it. I had no problem accepting that 0! = 1 only because I learnt that fact early in school. However, I struggled quite a bit to accept that span({}) = {0}, even though it is not…

0! = 1 is not hard to accept, since it follows a rule. You just need to look at it backwards. To get the previous factorial (Ni-1)! you need to divide the N! by N 4! = 24 ;; 24 / 4 = 6 3! = 6 ;; 6 / 3 = 2 2! = 2 ;; 2 / 2 = 1 1!= 1 ;; 1 / 1 = 1 0! = 1

This looks even more natural from the programmer’s standpoint: reduction of a set of numbers by summation starts with 0, and reduction by multiplication, with 1; so, if the set is empty (has zero elements) the result is simply the starting number (0 or 1, respectively).

Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann (2019)

#65

Post by amilios »

Rochus wrote: post #34
djmips wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

True but on the other hand, he kind of made computers 'open source'

> he kind of made computers 'open source' The only "positive" (depeding on perspective) effect of his illegal and morally questionable action was that the patent was declared null and void due to the novelty-damaging effect of his report, among other issues supporting this outcome. The computers however did not become more "open source" because of this, just cheaper.

Still a semi-positive outcome no? Computers becoming cheaper?

Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann (2019)

#66

Post by Koshkin »

hintymad wrote: post #33
ZephyrBlu wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never seen that quote before, but it feels very human. I feel like there's an intuition which comes along with learning things. Or maybe learning is simply developing intuition. At some point things somehow just make sense in your mind because you've built up an intuition of how it works.

I learned it the hard way, as I hit a wall when taking a course on abstract algebra, that the only path to truly understanding college-level math is building solid intuition. Otherwise, the sheer number of definitions and theorems will just be overwhelming. Of course, intuition is as critical for pre-college math. It's just that we somehow get the intuition naturally probably because we get to experience all kinds of…

At some deep level, a key to understanding abstract-algebraic objects is to think about them geometrically.

L'algèbre n’est qu’une géométrie écrite, la géométrie n'est qu'une algèbre figurée. — Sophie Germain

Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann (2019)

#67

Post by masswerk »

Rochus wrote: post #13

> von Neumann proposed a description for a computer architecture now known as the von Neumann architecture Well, he actually described an already existing design by Eckert and Mauchly under his name and this paper was illegally disclosed. For the ones interested in this and other fascinating stories about ENIAC, here is a good book: https://www.amazon.com/Eniac-Triumphs-Tragedies-Worlds-Compu... ; worth reading is al…

According to J. Presper Eckert in his oral history interview [1] the Moore School was actually collecting patent applications, when von Neumann went public with the report. Which is why principal computer architecture is in the public domain. And, according to Eckert, this was done with a purpose and in von Neumann's self-interest. He also accused von Neumann of having done similarly at the IAS. (According to von Neumann, it was merely an oversight that his name was the only one on the report and it had been just an internal proposal for a draft of the final paper.)

Eckert summarizes this condemnatory as follows on p.35: "You know, we finally regarded von Neuman as a huckster of other people's ideas with Goldstine as his principle mission salesman. Now, if you don't believe this, talk to Julian Biglow at the Institute for Advanced Study(…) Von Neumann was stealing ideas and trying to pretend work done at the Moore School was work he had done."

[1] Oral history interview with J. Presper Eckert conducted by Nancy Stern, 1977: https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/107275

PDF: https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/107275/oh...

Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann (2019)

#68

Post by kalium-xyz »

smaddox wrote: post #48
Rochus wrote: post #13

> von Neumann proposed a description for a computer architecture now known as the von Neumann architecture Well, he actually described an already existing design by Eckert and Mauchly under his name and this paper was illegally disclosed. For the ones interested in this and other fascinating stories about ENIAC, here is a good book: https://www.amazon.com/Eniac-Triumphs-Tragedies-Worlds-Compu... ; worth reading is al…

Wow... How is this not more well known? It's not like von Neumann doesn't have plenty of other important contributions to his name.

Most people who have a lot of things named after then wanted to have a lot of things named after them. Consider: why is more named after von Neumann then Erdos?

Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann (2019)

#69

Post by masswerk »

smaddox wrote: post #48
Rochus wrote: post #13

> von Neumann proposed a description for a computer architecture now known as the von Neumann architecture Well, he actually described an already existing design by Eckert and Mauchly under his name and this paper was illegally disclosed. For the ones interested in this and other fascinating stories about ENIAC, here is a good book: https://www.amazon.com/Eniac-Triumphs-Tragedies-Worlds-Compu... ; worth reading is al…

Wow... How is this not more well known? It's not like von Neumann doesn't have plenty of other important contributions to his name.

Have a look the oral history interview with J. Presper Eckert, it's a long lasting controversy: https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/107275

PDF: https://conservancy.umn.edu/bitstream/handle/11299/107275/oh...

Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann (2019)

#70

Post by Koshkin »

ZephyrBlu wrote: post #30
stephc_int13 wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From a genetic standpoint, all humans are 99.9% identical beasts. There is of course some genetic components in potential abilities. But I strongly believe that most of the differences we are seeing are built on compounded interest of environmental factors, starting from a very young age.

I'm not sure this is a viable argument considering that we also share much of our DNA with apes/monkeys. It seems like minor genetic differences can create large disparities. I definitely think environmental factors can compound on a genetic baseline though, and of course the earlier you start compounding the greater the returns.

Indeed, some cognitive disabilities are based in genetics; but those are usually quite obvious. The rest of us humans are pretty much the same. Young child’s brain is, by nature, like a sponge, and impressions received at an early age are extremely critical.
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