Von Neumann's Three-Value Model for Quantum Mechanics

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Amitai Etzioni: When a genius comes into the world, a confederacy of dunces aligns against him or her. He says von Neumann came up with something that he wanted to present and hoped to make current in quantum physics. Unlike Einstein, who was quite worried about what quantum mechanics had to sayAbout reality and causality, von Neumann was relatively relaxed about it. ETzionis: I think he was more interested in the fact that the math works. And he wanted to make sure that it really did work.

Ananyo Bhattacharya is the author of The Man from the Future: The Visionary Life of John von Neumann, a brilliant biography of one of the most prolific and influential scientists to have ever lived. He joins the show to discuss von Neumann’s contributions to quantum physics, game theory, the Manhattan Project, and much more! Important Links:

Show Notes:

How did John von Neumann even exist?
Would von Neumann’s discoveries have happened without him?
The Martians of Hungary
The migrant mentality
Innovation in the face of extinction
Science, genius & the herd mentality
Von Neumann’s contribution to quantum physics
Game theory, Minimax and zero-sum games
von Neumann: quant in the streets; romantic in the sheets
The eccentricity of brilliance
Von Neumann and the Manhattan Project
The godfather of the open-source movement
Von Neumann as a project manager
How writing the book changed Ananyo’s understanding of von Neumann
Ananyo’s next projects
MUCH more!

Books Mentioned:

The Man from the Future: The Visionary Life of John von Neumann; **by **Ananyo Bhattacharya
The Beginning of Infinity: Explanations That Transform the World; by David Deutsch
The Genius of the Beast: A Radical Re-Vision of Capitalism; by Howard Bloom
Theory of Games and Economic Behaviour; by John von Neumann and Oskar Morgenstern