Suggested readings, #154

Here it is, a rundown of interesting articles I’ve come across recently, to consider for your weekend readings:

Is geometry a language that only humans know? During a workshop last fall at the Vatican, Stanislas Dehaene, a cognitive neuroscientist with the Collège de France, gave a presentation chronicling his quest to understand what makes humans — for better or worse — so special. Dr. Dehaene has spent decades probing the evolutionary roots of our mathematical instinct; this was the subject of his 1996 book, “The Number Sense: How the Mind Creates Mathematics.” Lately, he has zeroed in on a related question: What sorts of thoughts, or computations, are unique to the human brain? Part of the answer, Dr. Dehaene believes, might be our seemingly innate intuitions about geometry. … (New York Times) [No worries, no weird Platonism at play here!]

The impossibility of history. Is the Past Prolog? I’m not convinced. I say this as a professional historian. The main problem, of course, is that there are many pasts. They are defined by temporality, by subjectivity, and by the limits of knowledge. The past is ten seconds ago. Ten minutes, ten days, ten weeks, ten years, ten centuries. Which past is prolog to which present? … (3QuarksDaily) [A good example of sophistry, watch out for a number of deepeties. Use it as an exercise in critical thinking.]

Choose enjoyment over pleasure. In greek mythology, Eros and Psyche gave birth to a daughter named Hedone. A daemon, or minor deity, she has no myths attached to her, but is known for her one gift to humankind: pleasure. Her gift, however, was also a curse. In Rome, where Hedone was called Voluptas, the statesman and philosopher Cicero saw her deification as “vicious and unnatural,” insofar as she “overpowers natural instinct.” … (Atlantic) [Nice conceptual distinction, though of course it’s a continuum, not a dichotomy.]

John von Neumann thought he had the answers. Just as there are von Neumann machines and von Neumann algebras, there are von Neumann anecdotes. Here’s a well-worn favorite. Late in the 1940s, years after he left Hungary for the United States and became a lionized mathematician, John von Neumann met a group of Rand Corporation scientists who wanted to use a computer he’d helped design. They had a particular problem to solve, and it was—as they explained using blackboards and graphs—beyond the capacity of von Neumann’s computer at the moment. But perhaps the computer might be modified to address it? For two hours, von Neumann listened to the scientists, his head in his hands, his face impassive. Then he declared, “Gentlemen, you do not need the computer. I have the answer,” helped them through his thinking, and concluded: “Let’s go to lunch.” … (New Republic) [Always question the ethical side of geniuses.]

The Buddhist Self. When modern Buddhists and mindfulness practitioners say the ultimate cause of stress and suffering is the craving for permanence, especially the misguided craving for a permanent “self,” which “self” are they talking about? … (3QuarksDaily) [Useful classification of various conceptualizations of Self.]