Edward Frenkel—Back to the Roots: How Do We Revive Pythagorean Tradition in the Age of AI?

Historian Charles H. Kahn wrote that Pythagorean contributions to Western thought were "on the one hand, a mathematical understanding of the world of nature; and, on the other hand, a conception of human destiny that points beyond the visible world and beyond the mortal body to a higher form of life." Unfortunately, for the following 2,500 years, we took the first part: logic and reason, and largely discarded the other: intuition and imagination. Or, as Nietzsche put it in The Birth of Tragedy, we chose to rely heavily on our Apollonian side (yang) while neglecting our Dionysian side (yin). 

And here we are, in a world of contradictions which are becoming ever more acute with the astounding recent advancements of Artificial Intelligence, which is of course based on numbers (in fact, it was Pythagoras who said, "everything known is a number"). 

How do we go back to the Pythagorean tradition? How do we restore balance between Apollo and Dionysus? 

On this special evening, we will attempt to do just that. We will start with a talk by Edward Frenkel, mathematician, Berkeley professor, and author of Love and Math (currently out in 20 languages) who considers himself a Pythagorean. He will provide the context and the background. His talk will be followed by a ceremony, administered not by a priest or shaman but, as is more common these days, by DJs. 

During the dance party following Edward Frenkel's talk, DJ Wilder (Anna Fedorova) will dazzle us with music sourced from different genres and epochs, followed by Edward Frenkel himself (as DJ Moonstein) playing back-to-back with Cihat Fitzgerald (DJ Chi) taking us further into the unknown. Magic awaits.

A Humanities Member-led Forum program. Forums at the Club are organized and run by volunteer programmers who are members of The Commonwealth Club, and they cover a diverse range of topics. Learn more about our Forums.

Frenkel photo courtesy the speaker; public domain painting is "Pythagoreans Celebrate the Sunrise" by Fyodor Bronnikov.

Organizer: George Hammond 

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