Infinity and the Mind : : The Science and Philosophy of the Infinite / / Rudy Rucker.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter Princeton University Press eBook-Package Archive 1927-1999
• VerfasserIn: Rucker, Rudy,
• Place / Publishing House: Princeton, NJ : : Princeton University Press, , [2013]; ©1995
• Year of Publication: 2013
• Edition: Course Book
• Language: English
• Series: Princeton Science Library ; 26
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (368 p.) :; 3 halftones. 107 line illus.
• Other title: Frontmatter --; TABLE OF CONTENTS --; Preface to the 2005 Edition --; Preface to the Paperback Edition --; Preface --; Chapter One: Infinity --; Chapter Two: All the Numbers --; Chapter Three: The Unnameable --; Chapter Four: Robots and Souls --; Chapter Five: The One and the Many --; Excursion One: The Transfinite Cardinals --; Excursion Two: Godel's Incompleteness Theorems --; Answers to the Puzzles and Paradoxes --; Notes --; Bibliography --; Index
• Format: Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.
• ISBN: 9781400849048; 9783110442496
• DOI: 10.1515/9781400849048
• Access: restricted access
• Hierarchical level: Monograph
• Statement of Responsibility: Rudy Rucker.

In Infinity and the Mind, Rudy Rucker leads an excursion to that stretch of the universe he calls the "Mindscape," where he explores infinity in all its forms: potential and actual, mathematical and physical, theological and mundane. Rucker acquaints us with Gödel's rotating universe, in which it is theoretically possible to travel into the past, and explains an interpretation of quantum mechanics in which billions of parallel worlds are produced every microsecond. It is in the realm of infinity, he maintains, that mathematics, science, and logic merge with the fantastic. By closely examining the paradoxes that arise from this merging, we can learn a great deal about the human mind, its powers, and its limitations. Using cartoons, puzzles, and "ations to enliven his text, Rucker guides us through such topics as the paradoxes of set theory, the possibilities of physical infinities, and the results of Gödel's incompleteness theorems. His personal encounters with Gödel the mathematician and philosopher provide a rare glimpse at genius and reveal what very few mathematicians have dared to admit: the transcendent implications of Platonic realism.