Dangerous Knowledge

kiwi_2005 · 12-24-07, 04:54 AM

Interesting documentary. http://tinyurl.com/2dg9ba

Quote:

David Malone looks at four brilliant mathematicians - Georg Cantor, Ludwig Boltzmann, Kurt Gödel and Alan ... all » Turing - whose genius has profoundly affected us, but which tragically drove them insane and eventually led to them all committing suicide.

The film begins with Georg Cantor, the great mathematician whose work proved to be the foundation for much of the 20th-century mathematics. He believed he was God's messenger and was eventually driven insane trying to prove his theories of infinity. Ludwig Boltzmann's struggle to prove the existence of atoms and probability eventually drove him to suicide. Kurt Gödel, the introverted confidant of Einstein, proved that there would always be problems which were outside human logic. His life ended in a sanatorium where he starved himself to death.

Finally, Alan Turing, the great Bletchley Park code breaker, father of computer science and homosexual, died trying to prove that some things are fundamentally unprovable.

The film also talks to the latest in the line of thinkers who have continued to pursue the question of whether there are things that mathematics and the human mind cannot know. They include Greg Chaitin, mathematician at the IBM TJ Watson Research Center, New York, and Roger Penrose.

Dangerous Knowledge tackles some of the profound questions about the true nature of reality that mathematical thinkers are still trying to answer today.

Iceman · 12-25-07, 09:18 PM

Bravo Bravo!!!

Dude...that was an incredible program.

Thank you so much Kiwi...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

kiwi_2005 · 12-25-07, 09:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iceman

Bravo Bravo!!!

Dude...that was an incredible program.

Thank you so much Kiwi...

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Hey no problem

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you too.

Stealth Hunter · 12-25-07, 09:26 PM

Cthulhu warned us of these things... but we did not listen...

bradclark1 · 12-26-07, 01:54 PM

A lot of the worlds greatest chess players were mentally 'impaired' too.
I wonder how the saying "Too smart for your own good" came about?

12-26-07, 01:54 PM	#5
bradclark1 Ocean Warrior Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Connecticut, USA. Posts: 2,794 Downloads: 25 Uploads: 0	A lot of the worlds greatest chess players were mentally 'impaired' too. I wonder how the saying "Too smart for your own good" came about? __________________

12-25-07, 09:18 PM	#2
Iceman Ace of the Deep Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Mesa AZ, Arizona, USA Posts: 1,253 Downloads: 5 Uploads: 0	Bravo Bravo!!! Dude...that was an incredible program. Thank you so much Kiwi... Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

12-25-07, 09:26 PM	#4
Stealth Hunter Silent Hunter Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Y'ha-Nthlei Posts: 4,262 Downloads: 19 Uploads: 0	Cthulhu warned us of these things... but we did not listen...