I am a Strange Loop

 Books, Logic, Philosophy  Comments Off on I am a Strange Loop
Oct 042009
 

I have not read Douglas Hofstadter very thoroughly, but I have perused some of his work and I enjoy and recommend him. He whets the appetite for something more, which is a good thing. He stirs the passion of the subject… What am I? After reading large chunks of I am a Strange Loop, I [more …]

Godel’s Incompleteness Theorem

 Books, Logic, Math  Comments Off on Godel’s Incompleteness Theorem
Oct 042009
 

In the preface of his book, Everything and More: A Compact History of Infinity, the late David Foster Wallace talks about the power of abstraction to suck you into an abyss of insanity. Mathematicians, who deal in pure abstraction, are more prone to insanity than poets and artists, he claims. Trying to define the mathematical [more …]