Is it just me, or anyone else feel a good bit of insecurity wash over them when they encounter such tales of genius.
The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann (2019)
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Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann (2019)
#262> 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…
ENIAC the worlds first computer? What about Z3 by Konrad Zuse? https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z3_(computer)
It can be argued that Z3 was not as general purpose (Turing complete) as ENIAC.
"The Z3 was demonstrated in 1998 to be, in principle, Turing-complete. However, because it lacked conditional branching, the Z3 only meets this definition by speculatively computing all possible outcomes of a calculation."
Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann (2019)
#263Earlier quoted context omitted.
Fascinating when individuals of such advanced intelligence are not obsessed with immortality. Either They believe it is not possible or they are secretly a god trying to escape the boredom of already having long since achieved it.
Or they have realized that immortality is actually a dumb idea. Either you talk about real immortality where you live forever. And forever is a really long time. Or you talk about being able to decide when to die. In which case dying accidentally today becomes much more expensive so you become obsessed about avoiding accidental death today and miss the whole point of living a longer life...
You are suggesting that death is somehow less dumb when you don’t know anything about the true existential nature of what that is.
Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann (2019)
#264Here is a fairly old documentary about 'Johnny' von Neumann: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y2jiQXI6nrE He was a myth even in his own lifetime but parts of that film hint at the man. It features interviews with many of his old colleagues, discussion of what it was like to work with him, etc. If you just watch one bit, personally I love the anecdote that begins around here: https://youtu.be/Y2jiQXI6nrE?t=2604 It is a…
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Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann (2019)
#265Is it just me, or anyone else feel a good bit of insecurity wash over them when they encounter such tales of genius.
insecurity...pfft...it's usually a short lived existential crisis for me :D
Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann (2019)
#266Earlier 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.
"The second world war over, von Neumann accepted a string of commercial consultancies. But he was increasingly drawn into the defence establishment. An earnest advocate of the development of the H-Bomb, he later described himself as "violently anti-communist, and a good deal more militaristic than most". After his death, Life magazine reported that he had said in 1950: "If you say why not bomb them [the Russians] tomorrow, I say why not bomb them today? If you say today at five o'clock, I say why not one o'clock?"
Though frequently quoted as evidence that von Neumann favoured a first strike "preventive war" against the Soviet Union, this is a weak reed on which to build such a claim. It seems more likely it was characteristic - though tasteless and bloodthirsty - banter designed to emphasise his hawkishness. ...
Von Neumann was not an unthinking militarist: he believed that the world's only chance of avoiding destructive conflict was world government, but - since he could not see any practical way of achieving this - he was determined to defend his adopted country with as much armed might as possible. "
http://www.math.uwaterloo.ca/~hwolkowi//neumann1.html
Unlike Teller, von Neumann is not renowned for what you describe as "persistent advocacy" of nuclear first strike. AFAIK, von Neumann was not especially politically active in promoting US gov't aggression of any kind, again, unlike Teller.
Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann (2019)
#267Earlier 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.
"The second world war over, von Neumann accepted a string of commercial consultancies. But he was increasingly drawn into the defence establishment. An earnest advocate of the development of the H-Bomb, he later described himself as "violently anti-communist, and a good deal more militaristic than most". After his death, Life magazine reported that he had said in 1950: "If you say why not bomb them [the Russians] tom…
As I understand it, there had been about two months during the Eisenhower presidency, where a group tried to urged the administration towards a first strike. And, again, as I understand it, von Neumann played a prominent role in this. At least, this is what I was referring to. (Compare Eisenhower's remarks on the military industrial complex in this context.)
Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann (2019)
#268apropos von Neumann. why is there no Manhatten project for corona?
The raw science is not what held back the response. The mRNA vaccines were designed within a week. Testing and approval were the bottlenecks.
Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann (2019)
#269He 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…
it's all mythmaking, a custom as old as time and the ancestor of our modern obsession with promotion. exceptional people aren't born so much as constructed to tickle our imagination and ego. every culture makes myths but obsession is where it becomes problematic. we must have idols, so we will make them opportunistically rather than leave them to organic discovery. there's enough randomness and manipulation in the pe…
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Re: The Unparalleled Genius of John von Neumann (2019)
#270Earlier quoted context omitted.
> 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.
Transistors are very much based on quantum mechanics. Especially after the early 2000s.