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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)

#211

Post by orthosTD »

Synaesthesia wrote: post #129

Some strange political beliefs but indeed an unparalleled genius. (He advocated for immediately nuking the USSR!) His faculty with infinite series and other mathematical tricks was rather amazing.

If you think war is inevetiable anyway it makes sense to nuke first while the otherside is still weak.

Luckily the war didnt happen, but it was a reasonable possibility. So only in hindsight do these beliefs look stupid (and evil).

Von Neumann also influenced the Goverment on Military Strategy and basically invented MAD. Which worked great so far.

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

#212

Post by mark_l_watson »

jorgenveisdal wrote: post #155
mark_l_watson wrote: post #86

My Dad knew and worked with von Neumann at the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton. My Dad says nice things about him and mentioned eccentricities like working through the night and playing music loudly.

Hi Mark. My name is Jørgen Veisdal, I wrote the essay. I’d love to interview your dad for a book project I am doing. Any chance he might be available for something like that?

Email me. I am visiting my Dad next week.

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

#213

Post by jonplackett »

MrDresden wrote: post #209

He was beyond a brilliant person, of that is no doubt. And not in anyway trying to take away from that fact, reading the following excerpt from the article..; "[..] von Neumann both worked alongside and collaborated with some of the foremost figures of twentieth century science. He went to high school with Eugene Wigner, collaborated with Hermann Weyl at ETH, attended lectures by Albert Einstein in Berlin, worked und…

These things are a virtuous circle. The more brilliant you are, the more brilliant people want to hang around, and the more brilliant you become. And loop.

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

#214

Post by pitspotter »

As easy as it is to admire intelligence it's really motivation which is key, which is the admirable thing about people. VN could have accomplished far more if he'd been less concerned with prestige, academies, spy stuff, and so on. If he'd opted to isolate himself a bit more. Like his colleague Godel, or like Grothendieck.

Then there would have been many more theorems bearing his name:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_theorems

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

#215

Post by arethuza »

masswerk wrote: post #85
jshier wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lawsuits? Unless you're talking personal suits, the only one I know of, Honeywell v. Sperry Rand, did not go well for Eckert or Mauchly, personally or professionally, especially Mauchly.

My (moral) problems with von Neumann are of entirely different nature, namely his persistent advocacy for a "preemptive" nuclear first strike, before the USSR could roll out a thermonuclear bomb in production. Which might be regarded as attempted, cold-blooded genocide. So, not my personal hero.

I don't think there is any doubt that a "preemptive" nuclear first strike by the US would have morally and legally been regarded as genocide.

The last time we had a debate on HN on this topic a number of people seemed to think it would have been a good idea - which I found genuinely disturbing. Hopefully I was just being trolled.

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

#216

Post by zukzuk »

pitspotter wrote: post #214

As easy as it is to admire intelligence it's really motivation which is key, which is the admirable thing about people . VN could have accomplished far more if he'd been less concerned with prestige, academies, spy stuff, and so on. If he'd opted to isolate himself a bit more. Like his colleague Godel, or like Grothendieck. Then there would have been many more theorems bearing his name: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/…

By most accounts Gödel lived an anxious, unhappy life. He died, basically, from paranoia.

Not to say that von Neumann lived a happy life — he sounds like a bit of an asshole — but I wonder whether Gödel would have traded his achievements for less isolation and a less tortured existence?

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

#217

Post by Koshkin »

DonHopkins wrote: post #185
aap_ wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was no first computer. The further you go back the less it becomes a computer, the further you go forward the less it becomes a first. I can really recommend the book "ENIAC in Action" on this matter and of course on the ENIAC generally.

But what was the zeroth computer?

Interestingly, “computer” was the term applied to office workers whose responsibility was doing calculations. Which is why the first machines were called “automatic computers”. (Fast forward to today, “computing” is perceived now mostly as “using a computer”, such as web browsing or reading email.)

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

#218

Post by Tuna-Fish »

MrDresden wrote: post #209

He was beyond a brilliant person, of that is no doubt. And not in anyway trying to take away from that fact, reading the following excerpt from the article..; "[..] von Neumann both worked alongside and collaborated with some of the foremost figures of twentieth century science. He went to high school with Eugene Wigner, collaborated with Hermann Weyl at ETH, attended lectures by Albert Einstein in Berlin, worked und…

A lot of those particularly accomplished people he interacted with specifically pointed him out as exceptional.

For example, from this article about his eidetic memory:

"One of his remarkable abilities was his power of absolute recall. As far as I could tell, von Neumann was able on once reading a book or article to quote it back verbatim; moreover, he could do it years later without hesitation. He could also translate it at no diminution in speed from its original language into English. On one occasion I tested his ability by asking him to tell me how A Tale of Two Cities started. Whereupon, without any pause, he immediately began to recite the first chapter and continued until asked to stop after about ten or fifteen minutes."

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

#219

Post by Koshkin »

arethuza wrote: post #215
masswerk wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My (moral) problems with von Neumann are of entirely different nature, namely his persistent advocacy for a "preemptive" nuclear first strike, before the USSR could roll out a thermonuclear bomb in production. Which might be regarded as attempted, cold-blooded genocide. So, not my personal hero.

I don't think there is any doubt that a "preemptive" nuclear first strike by the US would have morally and legally been regarded as genocide. The last time we had a debate on HN on this topic a number of people seemed to think it would have been a good idea - which I found genuinely disturbing. Hopefully I was just being trolled.

On the other hand, there is still no universal agreement on the morality of the wartime bombing campaigns that lead to high numbers of civilian casualties.

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

#220

Post by bidirectional »

yosito wrote: post #206
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…

> we still have no idea what biologically separates a man like this from the rest of us I don't think it was a biological separation. Neumann, and his brilliant peers, all grew up in Hungary in the midst of political and ethnic oppression with significant economic and language barriers to overcome. Books have been written about it, and I can't accurately recount the facts. But it seems to me that what separates him a…

I think you are confusing von Neumann with someone else, because that is not the case, at all. He grew up in a wealthy family which was ennobled by the emperor when he was 10 (hence the von), and spoke Hungarian natively. In childhood he was taught by governesses in numerous major European languages before going to a Christian school for the Hungarian elite, while receiving private tutoring from a renowned mathematician. Then he went to prestigious universities in Germany and Switzerland, before becoming the youngest Privatdozent in University of Berlin history.

The situation obviously rapidly changed in Europe, but Von Neumann left for Princeton before the 30s began. He grew up in a life of great privilege.

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