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The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann

cantorsparadise.substack.com

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Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann

#11

Post by javajosh »

rejectedandsad wrote: post #6
HenryKissinger wrote: post #2

How much of our global technological progress can be attributed to a handful of geniuses who happened to be at the right time and place? How much more backward would the world be if the likes of Newton and Von Neumann hadn't existed? I unironically believe that the government should dig up his body, retrieve DNA samples, and clone him. Populate federal labs and agencies with Von Neumann clones. Sell a few to FAAMNG t…

> Let uber geniuses run the nation's courts, monetary policy, tax laws, environmental protection programs, and defense planning and acquisition We literally already let elite school grads do this and where has it gotten us? 40 years of a yawning gap between the cosmopolitan dream-hoarder class and the rest of us fighting for scraps?

Intelligence only matters to a certain point for good administrators. Morality, courage, and, above all, self-restraint are just as important. These are the people capable of changing the rules in a way that benefits others even if it means a slight drop in personal wealth, power, or prestige. Often we seem to pick those who are constitutionally incapable of doing that, much to our detriment. (One big reason is that egoists can be wealthy, and wealth can manufacture consent, but that's a discussion for another time.)

George Washington could have been a King, and declined. Whatever other skeletons he had in his closet, that decision puts him very high in my book, and is a fantastic example of our American value of both innovation and civic-minded self-restraint.

Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann

#13

Post by yesenadam »

spacechild1 wrote: post #10
HenryKissinger wrote: post #2

How much of our global technological progress can be attributed to a handful of geniuses who happened to be at the right time and place? How much more backward would the world be if the likes of Newton and Von Neumann hadn't existed? I unironically believe that the government should dig up his body, retrieve DNA samples, and clone him. Populate federal labs and agencies with Von Neumann clones. Sell a few to FAAMNG t…

> Let uber geniuses run the nation's courts, monetary policy, tax laws, environmental protection programs, and defense planning and acquisition. You might want to read up on his political views in general and his role in the creation of the atomic bomb in particular. He wanted to drop the bomb on Kyoto (the historical cultural center of Japan) and actively supported a preventive nuclear strike against Russia. What's…

> actively supported a preventive nuclear strike against Russia.

Well, even Bertrand Russell, who protested against war from WWI to the Vietnam War, advocated a preemptive nuclear strike against the USSR in 1954. The risk of nuclear war killing everyone, once the USSR had nukes, just seemed too great, I guess.

Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann

#14

Post by meroes »

HenryKissinger wrote: post #2

How much of our global technological progress can be attributed to a handful of geniuses who happened to be at the right time and place? How much more backward would the world be if the likes of Newton and Von Neumann hadn't existed? I unironically believe that the government should dig up his body, retrieve DNA samples, and clone him. Populate federal labs and agencies with Von Neumann clones. Sell a few to FAAMNG t…

On the contrary:

"Many generations of graduate students who might have been tempted to try to construct hidden-variables theories were beaten into submission by the claim that von Neumann, 1932, had proved that it could not be done. A few years later (see Jammer, 1974,p.273) Grete Hermann, 1935, pointed out a glaring deficiency in the argument, but she seems to have been entirely ignored. Everybody continued to cite the von Neumann proof. A third of a century passed before John Bell, 1966, rediscovered the fact that von Neumann's no-hidden-variables proof was based on an assumption that can only be described as silly." Mermin https://cqi.inf.usi.ch/qic/Mermin1993.pdf

No one is infallible, and this kind of mythical status has problems. Grete was dismissed, and Bell's paper only was admitted because the editor thought it was confirming Von Nuemman even. And even if von Neumman's proof wasn't as "silly" as Bell said, the fact that everyone else ran with it surely harmed quantum theory for a long while, reinforcing the Copenhagen side unjustifiably at the expense of others.

Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann

#15

Post by stephc_int13 »

HenryKissinger wrote: post #2

How much of our global technological progress can be attributed to a handful of geniuses who happened to be at the right time and place? How much more backward would the world be if the likes of Newton and Von Neumann hadn't existed? I unironically believe that the government should dig up his body, retrieve DNA samples, and clone him. Populate federal labs and agencies with Von Neumann clones. Sell a few to FAAMNG t…

This is mostly what Plato advocated in The Republic, it inspired quite a few policies over the last few centuries.

The result is not as good as you might expect, this philosophy leads to aristocracy, not the most efficient form of government, by a long shot.

Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann

#16

Post by celticninja »

javajosh wrote: post #11
rejectedandsad wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Let uber geniuses run the nation's courts, monetary policy, tax laws, environmental protection programs, and defense planning and acquisition We literally already let elite school grads do this and where has it gotten us? 40 years of a yawning gap between the cosmopolitan dream-hoarder class and the rest of us fighting for scraps?

Intelligence only matters to a certain point for good administrators. Morality, courage, and, above all, self-restraint are just as important. These are the people capable of changing the rules in a way that benefits others even if it means a slight drop in personal wealth, power, or prestige. Often we seem to pick those who are constitutionally incapable of doing that, much to our detriment. (One big reason is that…

>civic-minded self-restraint.

Such a well know American characteristic you needed a 22nd amendment.

Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann

#17

Post by spacechild1 »

yesenadam wrote: post #13
spacechild1 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Let uber geniuses run the nation's courts, monetary policy, tax laws, environmental protection programs, and defense planning and acquisition. You might want to read up on his political views in general and his role in the creation of the atomic bomb in particular. He wanted to drop the bomb on Kyoto (the historical cultural center of Japan) and actively supported a preventive nuclear strike against Russia. What's…

> actively supported a preventive nuclear strike against Russia. Well, even Bertrand Russell, who protested against war from WWI to the Vietnam War, advocated a preemptive nuclear strike against the USSR in 1954. The risk of nuclear war killing everyone, once the USSR had nukes, just seemed too great, I guess.

So Bertrand Russell wasn't always right, either. Fortunately, the actual politicians in charge were a bit more reasonable.

Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann

#18

Post by JetSetWilly »

> In fact, von Neumann claimed to do some of his best work in noisy, chaotic environments such as in the living room of his house with the television blaring.

I often think of this when people claim it is impossible to conceive of any advanced thought in an open office or noisy environment. In fact, it is just a personal preference and one environment isn't necessarily any better than another.

Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann

#19

Post by i_haz_rabies »

yesenadam wrote: post #13
spacechild1 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Let uber geniuses run the nation's courts, monetary policy, tax laws, environmental protection programs, and defense planning and acquisition. You might want to read up on his political views in general and his role in the creation of the atomic bomb in particular. He wanted to drop the bomb on Kyoto (the historical cultural center of Japan) and actively supported a preventive nuclear strike against Russia. What's…

> actively supported a preventive nuclear strike against Russia. Well, even Bertrand Russell, who protested against war from WWI to the Vietnam War, advocated a preemptive nuclear strike against the USSR in 1954. The risk of nuclear war killing everyone, once the USSR had nukes, just seemed too great, I guess.

I wonder if their opinions would have changed if they had been aware of the possibility this would result in nuclear winter.

Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann

#20

Post by adolph »

spacechild1 wrote: post #17
yesenadam wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> actively supported a preventive nuclear strike against Russia. Well, even Bertrand Russell, who protested against war from WWI to the Vietnam War, advocated a preemptive nuclear strike against the USSR in 1954. The risk of nuclear war killing everyone, once the USSR had nukes, just seemed too great, I guess.

So Bertrand Russell wasn't always right, either. Fortunately, the actual politicians in charge were a bit more reasonable.

What if he was right and we live now in a world worse as a result?

What if he wasn’t right and we live now in a world better as a result?

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