4 ms·
"But one thing led to another, and it was [Nash], rather than von Neumann, who ended up as an intellectual celebrity, the subject of a Hollywood movie." Hollyw
by jraines 11y ago
"But one thing led to another, and it was [Nash], rather than von Neumann, who ended up as an intellectual celebrity, the subject of a Hollywood movie."
Hollywood schmollywood.
From The Dream Machine, Waldrop's account of the history of computing:
"Von Neumann! Goldstine was awestruck [. . .] he already knew the legends. At age forty, John Von Neumann held a place in mathematics that could be compared only to that of Albert Einstein in physics. In the single year of 1927, for example, while still a mere instructor at the University of Berlin, von Neumann had put the newly emerging theory of quantum mechanics on a rigorous mathematical footing; established new links between formal logical systems and the foundations of mathematics; and created a whole new branch of mathematics known as game theory"
[edit: still liked the article]
- RockyMcNuts 11y agoThat Waldrop book looks interesting...with a 5-star Amazon review from Leo Beranek. Yeah, Von Neumann is not exactly unappreciated, "Von Neumann machine," etc. Pretty good article, he says Nash equilibrium is hard to calculate, not really true, it's one of those things we do automatically, soccer players do it in picking how to shoot penalties, pigs have been found to do it, it's not like you have to think to drive on the right side of the road. If it's a game you haven't seen before you might not get it right the first time, but if you look at what other players do and can figure out best response, people figure it out and converge to a Nash equilibrium pretty quickly. It's one of those things that seems pretty simple and it takes a scientist to formalize it. What's harder is living your life so you create positive-sum games, but that's another story.
- RockyMcNuts 11y agoAlso ... another good article on Nash's contribution - http://www.voxeu.org/article/economics-john-nash http://www.voxeu.org/article/economics-john-nash
- stkni 11y agoThe Prisoners Dilemma by Poundstone gives a few stunning insights into the life of Von Neumann. Like how as a child, his father gave him a library of books which he read, understood and could recite verbatim. Oh and how whilst at the RAND organisation he advocated a pre-emptive nuclear strike on the USSR. Stick that in your Nash equilibrium!