Robert Anton Wilson talks about John von Neumann and maybe logic

[Ericwvb2]

I remember reading a story about John Von Neumann. Two grad students wanted to play a prank on him. One of them spent a WEEK solving a very difficult physics or math problem (forget which) and memorized each step of the solution. Both approached John Von Neumann at a party and asked him to solve to the problem on the spot. Von Neumann proceeded to do so *in his head* but at every step the other grad student would blurt out info. First time anyone out-thought him in his life, it made him furious!

[gnossticc]

@Ericwvb2 Neumann, being so smart should've known that. Anyways, great prank! L0L

[lebol6]

I have to correct RAW :). As far as I know the first guy to "invent" many valued logic was polish mathematician Łukasiewicz (write in wiki Lukasiewicz logic)

His paper on three-value logic was published in 1920 (the translation came out in 1970). Hail BOB!

[FeelOfFriction]

He doesn't sound too healthy here.

[clubsandwedge]

Logic may only be applied when you're talking about a part or a whole. When you are talking about a whole, you are making statements like 'completely', like 'this chair is completely brown or not', I do not understand why RAW felt uncomfortable with the law of excluded middle.

[DeathShamans]

We dreamers and shamans call his description of: MAYBE as YIN or INTUITION (emotional body). Just like the God Religions called the Goddess Mystery or Holy Spirit. We all use our own language.

[nanogirl]

He's in my song!

[pseudoslave]

Ive listened to Wilson many times and he sounds tired and weary.........the death of his daughter really tested hisdoctrines........it saddened him but he maintained his humour and intellect.............breaks my heart wht he went through with his beautiful angelic daughter..........it changed him, no doubt and his message became less.

[lurdanhelhart]

Binary logic "only applies in the abstract", eh? That explains where computers come from.

[martinbill123321]

Von Neumann might have been the smartest person to have lived in the last 100 years. His friends joked that he wasn't human, but did a excellent job of inpersonating one.

[borcer]

János Lajos Neumann aka John von Neumann worked on the Philadelphia Experiment and was mercyless to the crewmen exposing them to some heavy EMF from which many died, he never showed any remorse and continued with their project and used street kids called the Montauk boys as test subjects!

[Pupak30]

what are you speaking about you idiot ?

it is better to stop this negative campaign against this hungarian scientist. if neumann didn't leave you haven't been able to put you fat ass into the chair in front of your computer

[borcer]

Please get the facts before you speak nicely about that man, and no name calling.

Listen to people who worked with/for him: Stewart Swerdlow, Afred Bielek, Dancun Cameron, Preston Nichols and many others.

von Neumann was a Jew, his parents came from Russia to Hungary where he was born.

If he hadn't invented the computers, someone else would. Knowledge is not reserved to just one man.

[Pupak30]

that's true. i know about Neumann a lot.

I don't care if he was jew. He suggested the usage of stored program, RAM, ROM etc. There computer science would be totally different today if he didn't work in it

Not to mention the ballistic researches during the second world war which helped to americans to win the war and that's why

He wrote a book in which he compared the brain and the computer. If he didn't die so early maybe many disabled people would be able to walk today.

[Pupak30]

He was speaking old greek language when he was 5 and was able to carry out

very difficult counts in his head without writings anything to a paper. He was a trully warm person who held huge parties in US for other scientist. He was a tue genious. Due to people like you we hungarians have a bad reputation in the world. You in the west look down everything which is not from your mind, but the thruth is that we are better workers than you are. You just have the many. that's it.

[borcer]

My friend, please don't confuse intelligence with morals, it's not the same thing. Your comments shows that you have preconceived ideas about people you've never met. I'm not from west, I just live here and btw, I have lived in Hungary in the 80's.

Listen to people who had worked with/for him on different projects and what they have to say about von Neumann: Stewart Swerdlow, Alfred Bielek, Dancun Cameron, Preston B. Nichols and others

Nationalism can be blind for the truth.

[WHYNOTTTTTTyeah]

such hilaritas