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This reminds me of an anecdote about Godel, not sure if it's true or not, but here goes. When he was taking the Constitution exam to get the US citizenship, he
by nzp 10y ago
This reminds me of an anecdote about Godel, not sure if it's true or not, but here goes. When he was taking the Constitution exam to get the US citizenship, he proceeded to explain to the judge how he has a formal proof that the US Constitution is inconsistent and allows for a dictatorship to take over completely legally. Einstein was accompanying him and he somehow managed to quickly shut him up and continue to go through the motions of the exam.
It also, for some reason, reminds me of what Peter Thiel once said about physics PhDs: “Because they know fundamental things, they think they know everything.”
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- oska 10y ago> This reminds me of an anecdote about Goedel, not sure if it's true or not, but here goes. It's true, according to a recounting [1] by Oskar Morgenstern, one of two friends who were present at Gödel's citizenship examination to vouch for his good character (the other was Albert Einstein). [1] https://robert.accettura.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Morgenstern_onGoedelcitizenship.pdf https://robert.accettura.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Morg...
- apricot 10y agoGödel predicted Trump. Film at 11.
- nzp 10y agoI wish I could share your optimism about political candidates.
- Nomentatus 10y agoA single clause for emergencies in the Weimar constitution is what allowed Hitler (via Hindenberg) to assume dictatorial power, so Godel's concern wasn't abstract or abstruse, instead it reflected his recent European experience.