This research piece dives into the life of John Von Neumann, which was primarily one of mathematical and economic study. He was able to create the foundations of game theory, an invaluable model for decision-making in business and finance. He also made large contributions to the mathematical and physics-oriented worlds through his self-replicating automata and participation in the infamous Manhattan Project. This research also makes note of the importance of critical thinking and innovation in society, and discusses the different ways in which John Von Neumann embodies this sort of intellectual spirit. The early and personal histories of Von Neumann are also addressed.
Keywords: John Von Neumann, Mathematics, Mathematician, Game Theory, Automata, Economics, Innovation
The Mathematic, Scientific, and Economic Accomplishments of John Von Neumann
Living as royalty in Hungary and dividing eight-digit numbers in his head before age six, it was only a matter of time before John Von Neumann would go on to create some of the world’s most important economic theories and mathematical models (Poundstone, 1992; Burks, 1966). Neumann not only founded the study of game theory, but was also the first man to create a self-replicating machine without the use of a computer (Burks). These achievements also led to his principal membership in the Manhattan Project, one of the most globally influential scientific initiatives (Regis, 1992). John Von Neumann’s story is one of intense intellectual curiosity, and his achievements are nothing short of fascinating.
Early Life and Background
John Von Neumann, born in Budapest and raised in a wealthy family of five, would seemingly have little interest in becoming a mathematician (Blair, 1957). Emperor...
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... logic-based Self-Replicating cellular automata, Von Neumann sparked important research in the fields of computation, mechanics, and evolutionary biology (Burks, 1996). And, finally, Von Neumann played an integral part in helping to develop the nuclear bombs that were used to end the second World War (Atomic Archive, 2014). While it is important to recognize the value that these accomplishments have given to our current society, it is even more important to appreciate and search for the driving factor behind them. Nurturing and developing intellectual curiosity is what leads to innovation, and Von Neumann sets a perfect example of dedication and creative reasoning. Through the development of his works and the appreciation of his zeal for discovery, we can continue to push the boundaries of knowledge and innovate in ways that would make John Von Neumann proud.
Andy Clark strongly argues for the theory that computers have the potential for being intelligent beings in his work “Mindware: Meat Machines.” The support Clark uses to defend his claims states the similar comparison of humans and machines using an array of symbols to perform functions. The main argument of his work can be interpreted as follows:
This paper purports to re-examine the Lucas-Penrose argument against Artificial Intelligence in the light of Complexity Theory. Arguments against strong AI based on some philosophical consequences derived from an interpretation of Gödel's proof have been around for many years since their initial formulation by Lucas (1961) and their recent revival by Penrose (1989,1994). For one thing, Penrose is right in sustaining that mental activity cannot be modeled as a Turing Machine. However, such a view does not have to follow from the uncomputable nature of some human cognitive capabilities such as mathematical intuition. In what follows I intend to show that even if mathematical intuition were mechanizable (as part of a conception of mental activity understood as the realization of an algorithm) the Turing Machine model of the human mind becomes self-refuting.
Ever since you were a child you have unknowingly used game theory. When your parents gave you the option to choose a candy bar, your brain started thinking of all the possibilities that depended on which candy you chose. You would think which one would taste better, make your feel better, and maybe be healthier for you. In the end, you would narrow your choices down to one piece of candy and eat it happily. Game theory is the use of theory to think through all of the positive and negative possibilities that could happen in a problem and try to maximize the positive. Game theory is not just one theory, throughout the years is has spread into six main games. These games are: zero sum games, non-zero sum games, simultaneous move games, sequential move games, one-shot games, and repeated games. Each of these games will be covered more in depth in this essay, with the exception of zero-sum games. Dalton will be writing about the zero-sum game in his essay.
The holocaust is known for the great number of deaths; including the six million Jews. Ida fink is a writer that captures this time period in her works. In “The Key Game” she appeals to pathos because of imagery used, connections to your own family, and dialog used by both the father and mother. Through her fiction stories, she tells tales that relate to what could have been and probably what was. Ida Fink is known for telling her stories in a journalist like tone with very little color. In her stories, she does not like to tell you how to feel she instead leaves that up to the reader. Fink does place some hints of emotion just by writing the story alone. The interpretation of her works is left up to the reader. As you read through her stories some will find more emotion, some will find more logic, and some may see more ethics. At the moment, we will be looking more on the side of emotions within this story.
These projects come to live in the Research division at IBM. In 2005 Paul Horn, director of the division wanted to try to create a machine able to pass the Turing Test. No machine had done it. But researchers didn’t believe that it would get the public’s attention in the way that Deep Blue had. Horn thought of another game where it would...
The life and legend of Dr. John Forbes Nash, Jr. has been one that has been publicized for many reasons. Many may have heard of Nash because of his remarkable contributions to the world of mathematics, perhaps as a Noble Prize winner in 1994, or as the subject of the book and Hollywood film, A Beautiful Mind, that is based on his life and career. While attending Princeton University, Nash developed the equilibrium concept for non-cooperative games theory, which is currently known as the Nash Equilibrium. (Noble Prize Winner, 2013). Upon graduating from Princeton at the age of 20, Nash began teaching at Princeton for one year before taking a position as C.L.E. Moore math instructor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T). While at M.I.T., Nash met his wife Alicia Lopez-Harrison de Larde, whom would soon become pregnant with their first child. In 1959 at the age of 21 and with a child to be soon born, Nash began to suffer from mental disturbances. As a result of his mental disturbances, he resigned as an instructor from M.I.T and withdrew his entire pension. At resignation, Nash’s wife admitted him into McLean Hospital where he was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia in 1959 (Nobel Prize Winner, 2013). De Larde divorced Nash in 1963 as a result of his illness.
Alan Mathison Turing was born in Paddington, London, on June 23, 1912. He was a precocious child and began his interests in science and mathematics at a young age, but was never concerned about other right-brain classes such as English. This continued until an important friend of his passed away and set Turing on a path to achieve what his friend could no longer accomplish. When his friend Christopher Morcom died, Turing was launched into thoughts in physics about the physical mind being embodied in matter and whether quantum-mechanical theory affects the traditional problem of mind and matter. Many say today that this was the beginnings of Turing’s Turning Machine and the test still used today for artificial intelligence, the Turing Test.
Can a man be driven from humble humanity to gross inhumanity by circumstance or situation? What effect do one's choices and training have on his morals? At some point in our lives we will all be forced to answer questions similar to these, and two characters in Connell's story "The Most Dangerous Game" are not exempt from these life decisions. Sanger Rainsford and General Zaroff are both wealthy, both are hunters, and eventually both men are put into situations where critical choices must be made. The choices the men make are derived from different situations, but both have similar results.
In this essay, I describe in detail a hypothetical test contemporarily known as the Turing test along with it’s respective objective. In addition, I examine a distinguished objection to the test, and Turing’s consequential response to it.
Goldstine, Herman H. "Computers at the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School." The Jayne Lecture. Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Vol 136, No.1. January 24, 1991
Alan Turing left an indelible mark on the world with technological inventions, extraordinary talent, and productive habits. His dedication to hard work and perseverance against the discouragement of bullying provide fantastic examples for anyone to emulate. Also, the inventions of the Turing Machine and the Bombe were the primary reasons why computers existed during the last sixty years, and were important factors in the demise of Nazi Germany. Finally, for one to truly understand why Turing was important in world history, he should envision life without modern technology and
The most common refutation to the notion of mental states in digital computers is that there are inherent limits of computation and that there are inabilities that exist in any algorithm to...
From the first imaginative thought to manipulate nature to the development of complex astronomical concepts of space exploration, man continues to this day to innovate and invent products or methods that improve and enhance humankind. Though it has taken 150 million years to reach the present day, the intellectual journey was not gradual in a linear sense. If one were to plot significant events occurring throughout human existence, Mankind’s ability to construct new ideas follows a logarithmic path, and is rapidly approaching an asymptote, or technological singularity. This singularity event has scientists both supporting and rejecting the concept of an imaginative plateau; the largest topic discussed is Artificial Intelligence (A.I.). When this technological singularity is reached, it is hypothesized that man’s greatest creation, an artificial sapient being, will supersede human brain capacity.
Von Neumann architecture, or the Von Neumann model, stems from a 1945 computer architecture description by the physicist, mathematician, and polymath John von Neumann and others. This describes a design architecture for an electronic digital computer with a control unit containing an instruction register and program counter , external mass storage, subdivisions of a processing unit consisting of arithmetic logic unit and processor registers, a memory to store both data and commands, also an input and output mechanisms. The meaning of the term has grown to mean a stored-program computer in which a command fetch and a data operation cannot occur at the same time because they share a common bus. This is commonly referred to as the Von Neumann bottleneck and often limits the performance of a system.
... still be honored for being a pioneer in that field. Many of the attributes in his machines are still used in computers today. Without Babbage, people today might not have computers, or even calculators! Babbage also invented other devices, such as the speedometer and the cowcatcher. Even though he never saw his machines at work, Babbage’s legacy would still be honored a hundred years later. In the mid-twentieth century, a few scientists met with each other and decided that Babbage’s machines could be built. They constructed a version of the difference engine using his plans. Without Babbage, many of the things taken for granted by people now might not exist, and many discoveries based on his achievements might not have been made. Babbage’s remarkable life should be remembered for his achievements because without them, this world would not be the same.