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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)

#191

Post by Sharlin »

iandanforth wrote: post #87
deviation wrote: post #8

It staggers me that in an age of incredible innovation and technology- we still have no idea what biologically separates a man like this from the rest of us. I'd like to take the idyllic position of (somewhat irresponsibly) hoping that some level of genius can be fostered and created in anyone from a young age.. But when I read articles like this I feel the compulsive need to sit back in my chair and ponder just how…

László Polgár believed this and turned his daughters into chess prodigies. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judit_Polg%C3%A1r

It’s pretty clear that the Polgár daughters had a very favorable genetic disposition on their side as well.

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

#192

Post by croes »

Rochus wrote: post #174
croes wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ENIAC the worlds first computer? What about Z3 by Konrad Zuse? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z3_(computer)

The claim was the first programmable, general-purpose "electronic computer". Zuse's machine was "electro mechanic" (i.e. based on relays instead of tubes).

That seems a little unclear. In the title it says "Eniac: The Triumphs and Tragedies of the World's First Computer" In the outline: "Presents a history of the world's first programmable computer, ENIAC" In the reviews once "Nobody doubts the pair designed and built ENIAC, the world's first fully electronic computer" and another time "This account of how an engineer barely out of college and a physicist with dreams of predicting the weather, conceived and built the world's first computer."

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

#193

Post by tpetricek »

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…

I was looking through the comments to see if someone mentioned Jean Bartik already! Just to add to this comment, she also wrote an autobiographical book, which is worth reading: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pioneer-Programmer-Jennings-Compute...

It is clearly a very personal and biased account, but I think there are good reasons to believe many of the things she is saying, even when they go against the commonly accepted history "written by the winners".

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

#194

Post by joelbluminator »

hospes wrote: post #113
TMWNN wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>(or even specifically the Habsburgs's HRE where von Neumann was from) It is not a coincidence that the "Martians" of Budapest, of which von Neumann was one, were all Ashkenazi Jewish. Societal and genetic pressures over centuries produced unusually high IQs (and some associated genetic problems). https://web.mit.edu/fustflum/documents/papers/AshkenaziIQ.jb...

Can someone please explain why this is being downvoted? That is true, “martians” were all Jewish and Ashkenazi Jews have high percentage of high IQ representatives compared to other ethnic groups.

It's quite controversial to study the IQ of different racial groups, mostly because of history (the racists of the 19th and 20th century were fascinated with racial differences) and because it can be used as a weapon by racist groups and right or wrong it feels a bit like a politically incorrect or even a racist thing to do (I'm not passing a judgment on race/IQ studies, just saying why scientists may steer away). As a jew I'm not totally comfortable with these studies btw; other than a general curiousity I don't see what they accomplish. I can even see how they give more reason to hate jews in certain circumstances, so no thanks we're quite fine already.

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

#195

Post by beaconstudios »

anonytrary wrote: post #92
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…

> Is it perhaps that the limelight is less on mathematicians than it was during the early 20th century? Everything make sense looking backwards. It is quite possible there are people who exist today in various fields (think AI, crypto, space, vehicles) who will go down in history the same way. Kids will look back in 50 years citing their names, just as we cite Dirac, Einstein, Feynman, Heisenberg, etc. To us, these p…

How is computing downwind from QM? I would trace computing's lineage back to the invention of the transistor or the earlier vacuum tube (advancements in electrical engineering, and the beginning of electronics), and logically back to Boole.

I don't think QM has had its payoff yet, but certainly general and special relativity have paid off in things like GPS, and probably more examples that I don't know about.

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

#198

Post by m_mueller »

jshier wrote: post #72
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…

This isn't really true. There was no existing architecture and even if there was, Eckert and Mauchly weren't the only ones involved. ENIAC itself encapsulated almost none of the Von Neumann architecture principles. While it's true Von Neumann's paper started as a summary of ongoing discussions on computer architecture for the EDVAC with a group that included Eckert, Mauchly, Arthur Burks, and others, Von Neumann's pr…

How does Turing’s work factor into this? Does Bartik also discredit his influence on computer architecture?

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

#199

Post by mardifoufs »

Hydraulix989 wrote: post #133
croes wrote: post #126

Earlier quoted context omitted.

ENIAC the worlds first computer? What about Z3 by Konrad Zuse? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z3_(computer)

The winners write history. It's interesting that the Z3 was denied funding from the German gov't for not being war-important. It turns out they were ahead of the computing game and squandered it, as US and GB relied on computers for code breaking and performing calculations for developing the atom bomb. It's not a blunder to the tune of invading Russia, but it's still interesting.

Yeah I disagree here. The general public's knowledge on WW2 and their perception of that war usually has been very disproportionately influenced and shaped directly by the post wars memoirs of german generals & other important figures of the 3rd Reich. Which is why there are so many myths and outright falsehoods on the war (pushed by those authors to rehabilitate/distance themselves from their own actions) that are still very very widely believed to be true. It's pretty fitting that "history is written by the victors" is one of those narratives.

Plus it makes even less sense when ww2 Germany is almost always believed to have been way ahead of the allies technologically. Way more than they actually were, so unless the allies were veryyy bad at rewriting history to erase Germany's contributions... I'd probably guess It's more due to it being a very obscure technology and had almost no "cool" factor, and v. little influence on the overall technology compared to the V-2 or jet fighters

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

#200

Post by yosito »

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 just doesn't seem like there is anything remotely like this going on today

It seems to me like the STEM heroes these days are working together on vaccine technologies. If you follow developments in mRNA technology you'll see there's a lot of international cooperation. It seems to me that current collaboration is on an even greater scale than the STEM heroes of the early 20th century, but it probably won't become clear to many until we look on it in retrospect 50 years from now.

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