John von Neumann and Norbert Wiener. From Mathematics to the Technologies of Life and Death.
About: This article is published in American Mathematical Monthly.The article was published on 1982-11-01. It has received 20 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Von Neumann architecture.
Citations
More filters
TL;DR: The history of dynamical systems theory from the late 19th century to the early 1980s was reviewed by Smale et al. as mentioned in this paper, who highlighted the pioneering work of a few individuals (Steve Smale, Edward Lorenz, David Ruelle).
180 citations
TL;DR: It is argued that the neural nets project of Warren S. McCulloch, in frequent collaboration with Walter Pitts, spearheaded this cognitivist turn in the 1940s, and his work within a larger historical trend, when cybernetics, information theory, systems theories, and electronic computers were coalescing into a new science of communication and control with enormous potential for industrial automation and military power in the Cold War era.
Abstract: ArgumentAfter more than half a century of eclipse, the mind (in contradistinction to brain and behavior) emerged in the 1950s as a legitimate object of experimental and quantitative research in natural science. This paper argues that the neural nets project of Warren S. McCulloch, in frequent collaboration with Walter Pitts, spearheaded this cognitivist turn in the 1940s. Viewing the project as a spiritual and poetic quest for the transcendental logos, as well as a culturally situated epistemology, the paper focuses on McCulloch’s and Pitts’ efforts of logical modeling of the mind and on the social conditions that shaped that mission.From McCulloch’s “experimental epistemology,” the mind–purposes and ideas–emerged out of the regularities of neuronal interactions, or nets. That science of mind thus became a science of signals based on binary logic with clearly defined units of perception and precise rules of formation and transformation for representing mental states. Aimed at bridging the gulf between body and mind (matter and form) and the technical gulf between things man-made and things begotten, neural nets also laid the foundation for the field of artificial intelligence.Thus this paper also situates McCulloch’s work within a larger historical trend, when cybernetics, information theory, systems theories, and electronic computers were coalescing into a new science of communication and control with enormous potential for industrial automation and military power in the Cold War era. McCulloch’s modeling the mind as a system of command and control contributed to the actualization of this potential.We build our castles in the air,And from the air they tumble down,Unless we carry them up thereUntil they crack the pate they crown. And we must lug them everywhere,From garden walk to crowded town;We build our castles in the air,And from the air they tumble down. And lucky, if when sere and brown,Before our eyes too lofty stare,We scape with life and pate, though bare,On which to plant an honest frown.We build our castles in the air,And from the air they tumble down.Warren S. McCullochOf McCulloch’s literary work only two thin volumes, One Word After Another (1945) and The Natural Fit (1959), have been published. Most of his poetic output was unpublished and is deposited at the American Philosophical Society (hereafter APS) in the McCulloch Papers, BM 139. The poem, originally published in The Natural Fit, is quoted after McCulloch 1989, vol. 3, 917. For commentary on his poetry, see Vasalis 1989.
87 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the influence of cybernetics on soft science has been investigated in a post-structuralist perspective, focusing on the American postwar context, where many experts were involved in the elaboration of this new science.
Abstract: This article aims to draw a portrait of the influence of cybernetics on soft science. To this end, structuralism, post-structuralism and postmodern philosophy will be successively analyzed in a perspective based on importing concepts stemming from the cybernetic paradigm (information, feedback, entropy, complexity, etc.). By focusing more specifically on the American postwar context, we intend to remind the audience that many soft science specialists were involved in the elaboration of this ‘new science’. We will then retrace the influence of the cybernetic paradigm on structuralism. Starting with the historic meeting between Roman Jakobson and Claude Levi-Strauss, we will illustrate that structural phonology is directly inspired by discoveries stemming from the informational model. In the same perspective, the conceptual borrowings of psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan from cybernetics will be identified and analyzed. Then, we will address the matter of the relationship between postmodern theories and the cyber...
62 citations
Cites background from "John von Neumann and Norbert Wiener..."
...It is difficult to address this period and these works, which preceded the ‘invention’ of cybernetics, without referring to mathematician John von Neumann, who was directly involved in the Manhattan Project and whose place in the history of cybernetics is fundamental (Heims, 1981)....
[...]
Book•
13 Dec 2010
TL;DR: Hersh and John-Steiner as mentioned in this paper discuss the hidden human, emotional, and social forces that shape mathematics and affect the experiences of students and mathematicians, and present a book called Loving and Hating Mathematics, which is a collection of stories of lives in mathematics from their very beginnings through old age.
Abstract: Mathematics is often thought of as the coldest expression of pure reason. But few subjects provoke hotter emotions--and inspire more love and hatred--than mathematics. And although math is frequently idealized as floating above the messiness of human life, its story is nothing if not human; often, it is all too human. Loving and Hating Mathematics is about the hidden human, emotional, and social forces that shape mathematics and affect the experiences of students and mathematicians. Written in a lively, accessible style, and filled with gripping stories and anecdotes, Loving and Hating Mathematics brings home the intense pleasures and pains of mathematical life.
These stories challenge many myths, including the notions that mathematics is a solitary pursuit and a "young man's game," the belief that mathematicians are emotionally different from other people, and even the idea that to be a great mathematician it helps to be a little bit crazy. Reuben Hersh and Vera John-Steiner tell stories of lives in math from their very beginnings through old age, including accounts of teaching and mentoring, friendships and rivalries, love affairs and marriages, and the experiences of women and minorities in a field that has traditionally been unfriendly to both. Included here are also stories of people for whom mathematics has been an immense solace during times of crisis, war, and even imprisonment--as well as of those rare individuals driven to insanity and even murder by an obsession with math.
This is a book for anyone who wants to understand why the most rational of human endeavors is at the same time one of the most emotional.
38 citations
01 Jan 2018
TL;DR: This special issue seeks to explore whether new historiographical approaches can provide a deeper understanding of the impact of European émigré psychiatrists, psychologists, and cognitive scientists on emerging fields of medicine and science, including community and geriatric medicine, developmental neuroscience, and psychiatric traumatology.
Abstract: The processes of long-term migration of physicians and scholars affect both the academic migrants and their receiving environments in often dramatic ways. On the one side, their encounter confronts two different knowledge traditions and personal values. On the other side, migrating scientists and academics are also confronted with foreign institutional, political, economic, and cultural frameworks when trying to establish their own ways of professional knowledge and cultural adjustments. The twentieth century has been called the century of war and forced migration: it witnessed two devastating World Wars, which led to an exodus of physicians, scientists, and academics. Nazism and Fascism in the 1930s and 1940s, forced thousands of scientists and physicians away from their home institutions based in Central and Eastern Europe. “Did you ever go half way ...” was a central question that all of them had to align with their personal consciousness, their family bonding, and the relationship to their academic peers. No one could leave without finding their individual answers to this existential question that lay at the bottom of their professional and scientific lives. Following this general theme, the current special issue particularly reflects on the personal stories and institutional narratives of German-speaking scientists and physicians to North America since the 1930s, as a relevant case study from twentieth-century history of medicine and science. By drawing on diaries, questionnaires, institutional histories (including those of the Max Planck Society among others), novels, and personal estates, this special issue as a whole intends to emphasize the impact of forced migration from a North-American perspective by describing the general research topic; showing how the personal lives of many of these individuals were intertwined with their careers and choices of scientific topics, projects, and personal destinies. Moreover, this special issue seeks to explore whether new historiographical approaches can provide a deeper understanding of the impact of European émigré psychiatrists, psychologists, and cognitive scientists on emerging fields of medicine and science, including community and geriatric medicine, developmental neuroscience, and psychiatric traumatology 1 Afffiliation: Dr. Frank W. Stahnisch, M.Sc. (Edin.) / AMF/Hannah Professor in the History of Medicine and Health Care / Department of Community Health Sciences & Department of History / TRW Building, Room 3E41 / Universität von Calgary / 3280 Hospital Drive N.W. / Calgary, AB, Kanada T2N 4Z6 / fwstahni@ucalgary.ca. Frank W. Stahnisch (Ed.) 4 to which the individuals in the respective cohort have strongly contributed in their new host countries.
29 citations