Checking a Racist Alien AI’s Homework

Near the end of Jordan Ellenberg’s wonderful collection of essays Shape he writes: What if the Poincaré Conjecture had been proved, not by an introverted Russian geometer, but by a machine? Say, a grandchild of a grandchild of Chinook, which instead of solving checkers had managed to solve this part of three-dimensional geometry. And suppose … Continue reading Checking a Racist Alien AI’s Homework →

An Epiphany induced by reading Journey to the Edge of Reason

If you’re faced with undeniable evidence that Shakespeare was a racist, would you change your opinion about the play Othello? I’m in the habit of asking myself such hypotheticals; it helps me clothe my opinions in reason. Here's another one. If you learn that one of the greatest mathematicians in history was prone to conspiracy … Continue reading An Epiphany induced by reading Journey to the Edge of Reason →