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Infinity and the Mind - the science and philosophy of the infinite (1995)
Front Cover Book Details
Author
Rudy Rucker
Publication Date 5/15/1995
Format Trade Paperback (235 x 155 mm)
Publisher Princeton University Press
Plot
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.

Personal Details
Collection Status In Collection
Purchase Price $12.95
Index 585
Read It No
Links URL
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Product Details
LoC Classification QA9.R79 1995
Dewey 511.3 20
ISBN 0691001723
Paper Type acid-free
Cover Price $22.95
Nr of Pages 342
First Edition No
Rare No
Notes
Originally published: Boston : Birkhäuser, 1982.
Includes bibliographical references and index.