When Einstein Walked with Gödel · Excursions to the Edge of Thought by Holt, Jim -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Title Page Copyright Notice Dedication Preface Part I: The Moving Image of Eternity

1. When Einstein Walked with Gödel 2. Time—the Grand Illusion?

Part II: Numbers in the Brain, in Platonic Heaven, and in Society

Part III: Mathematics, Pure and Impure

6. A Mathematical Romance 7. The Avatars of Higher Mathematics 8. Benoit Mandelbrot and the Discovery of Fractals

Part IV: Higher Dimensions, Abstract Maps

9. Geometrical Creatures 10. A Comedy of Colors

Part V: Infinity, Large and Small

Part VI: Heroism, Tragedy, and the Computer Age

14. The Ada Perplex: Was Byron’s Daughter the First Coder? 15. Alan Turing in Life, Logic, and Death 16. Dr. Strangelove Makes a Thinking Machine 17. Smarter, Happier, More Productive

Part VII: The Cosmos Reconsidered

18. The String Theory Wars: Is Beauty Truth? 19. Einstein, “Spooky Action,” and the Reality of Space 20. How Will the Universe End?

Part VIII: Quick Studies: A Selection of Shorter Essays

Little Big Man Doom Soon Death: Bad? The Looking-Glass War Astrology and the Demarcation Problem Gödel Takes On the U.S. Constitution The Law of Least Action Emmy Noether’s Beautiful Theorem Is Logic Coercive? Newcomb’s Problem and the Paradox of Choice The Right Not to Exist Can’t Anyone Get Heisenberg Right? Overconfidence and the Monty Hall Problem The Cruel Law of Eponymy The Mind of a Rock

Part IX: God, Sainthood, Truth, and Bullshit

21. Dawkins and the Deity 22. On Moral Sainthood 23. Truth and Reference: A Philosophical Feud 24. Say Anything