Name: Infinity and the mind
ISBN: 9780691121277

Infinity and the mind

In Infinity and the Mind, Rudy Rucker leads an excursion to that stretch of the universe he calls the "Mindscape," where he explores infinity in all its forms: potential and actual, mathematical and physical, theological and mundane. Rucker acquaints us with Gödel's rotating universe, in which it is theoretically possible to travel into the past, and explains an interpretation of quantum mechanics in which billions of parallel worlds are produced every microsecond. It is in the realm of infinity, he maintains, that mathematics, science, and logic merge with the fantastic. By closely examining the paradoxes that arise from this merging, we can learn a great deal about the human mind, its powers, and its limitations. Using cartoons, puzzles, and quotations to enliven his text, Rucker guides us through such topics as the paradoxes of set theory, the possibilities of physical infinities, and the results of Gödel's incompleteness theorems. His personal encounters with Gödel the mathematician and philosopher provide a rare glimpse at genius and reveal what very few mathematicians have dared to admit: the transcendent implications of Platonic realism.

What Hacker News says

whyenotNov 2024

The fact that this is on Rudy Rucker’s github makes it doubly cool. Reading his book “Infinity and the Mind” is what got me to go back to school (as a math major). That book changed my life for the better.

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

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maydMar 2024

As the late Martin Gardiner opined:

"Every few decades an unknown author brings out a book of such depth, clarity, range, wit, beauty and originality that it is recognised at once as a major literary event. This is such a work."

Nevertheless, Infinity and the Mind: The Science and Philosophy of the Infinite by Rudy Rucker is, in my opinion, a better choice for the mathematically inclined layman interested in Goedel's discoveries and plenty of related mathematics. Rucker's book even includes an account of his (somewhat over-enfusive) meeting with the great man.

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stiffSep 2023

Here are a few popular science books:

  One Two Three . . . Infinity: Facts and Speculations of Science by George Gamow
  Infinity and the Mind: The Science and Philosophy of the Infinite by Rudy Rucker
  Yearning for the Impossible: The Surprising Truths of Mathematics by John Stillwell
  Roads to Infinity by John Stillwell

If you want actual textbooks then maybe pick up a set theory textbook like "Naive set theory" by Halmos.

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ezedvSep 2023

One classic choice is "Infinity and the Mind" by Rudy Rucker, which explores infinity from both mathematical and philosophical perspectives.

For a more mathematical approach, "Understanding Infinity: The Mathematics of Infinite Processes" by A.C. Davis is a comprehensive option.

And if you're interested in the history of mathematical ideas, "The Mystery of the Aleph: Mathematics, the Kabbalah, and the Search for Infinity" by Amir D. Aczel is a fascinating read.

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monster_groupJul 2017

Questions such as these are tackled in the excellent book Infinity and the Mind [0].

[0] https://www.amazon.com/Infinity-Mind-Philosophy-Infinite-Pri...

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JakeAlJun 2016

The writers and commentators of today tend to fall into niche categories or just write fiction. There is Nicholas Carr's and Douglas Rushkoff. The latter even wrote a book called Present Shock.

Most people I can think of are also of the past such as Vinge, Marshall McLuhan or Freeman Dyson (who came up with the idea of the Dyson sphere, not the vacuum) who were also brilliant. McLuhan is a joy to read or listen to. He has several interviews on YouTube.

Esther Dyson (Freeman's daughter) and Nicholas Negroponte were others I read growing up along the lines of Toffler. I remember the latter's Being Digital as being profound at the time but passe in today's world since all of the marvels of the future he talks about came to fruition. Negroponte also came up with the One Laptop Per Child which lost it's relevance in a world of smartphones.

Others I thought of were Neal Stephenson (his non-fiction works are awesome, especially In the Beginning... was the Command Line and that book-long article he wrote for Wired about wiring Cambodia). Stephenson's fiction is great too and puts William Gibson to shame when it comes to cyberpunk, but Gibson wrote his prior to the PC era. Rudy Rucker was also quite good at the time but his best non-fiction works such as Infinity and the Mind (a must read for you math geeks) are out of print. I also liked The Tao of Physics by Fritjof Capra a lot growing up.

I looked on Goodreads for authors that are similar to Toffler and while I recognized a couple of them I didn't see anyone worth mentioning.

Toffler's works were mostly dated after the mid 2000's, but predicted the consumer as producer (pro-sumer) culture we live in today and Revolutionary Wealth described how we would make a living with services like Patreon and GoFundMe in such a society.

I recommend everyone read The Third Wave. It provides great historical context for the present machinations of society, the media, and the political machine controlling the masses. Powershift discuss the shift of power to the masses and is also good if you like the idea of the death of the establishment.

Other people that come to mind are Nicholas Carr, Douglas Rushkoff, and Ray Kurzweil.

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