Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit | jawjay's commentslogin

This says “Logic is the science of the possible” but wouldn’t logic be the science of the definite? I mean the whole point is to be able to definitely say what is or isn’t valid, definitely.


Such a great book. Do you know if he there is any other DFW math-ish writings to be found? All my searches thus far have turned up naught.


I'm not aware of any, but maybe somebody else is. A more general question is are there any other DFW-ish math-ish writings to be found? Against The Day (Pynchon) is not really math-ish, but it does have a good bit of math (more than GR at least), and a DFW fan would probably like it. Stella Maris (McCarthy) is perhaps neither DFW-ish nor math-ish, but it is Serious Fiction centered on a mathematician and is probably the best work of fiction to feature Alexander Grothendieck. I have heard that Solenoid (Cartarescu) has some math in it, though I fear it's still sitting on my shelf. Every Arc Bends Its Radian (due in a couple months from Sergio De La Pava) has a math-ish title but I doubt it will actually contain much math.

Michael Harris -- a mathematician who wrote a review of the DFW Infinity book -- has a book called "Mathematics Without Apologies", which I liked, though it's non-fiction. There is also "Birth of a Theorem" by Fields medalist Cedric Villani which is an interesting read -- not fiction, but it is experimental in many respects and I would say worth a read.


You'll probably enjoy When We Cease to Understand the World by Benjamin Labatut.


Oh, good idea! I read The Maniac but not that one, and the former should be on my list too.


Awesome recommendation, I enjoyed that one very much!


Endnote 123 in Infinite Jest


By definition machine learning is Statistics + Decision Theory. Statistics simply tells you what information you have about the world, not what to do with that information.


Maybe the author already used the other 42 words for the day.


Perhaps the author's a fan of Douglas Adams then?


You are forgetting to account for the other ride sharing services, which most likely have gained more than 10,000 pickups as a whole.


Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: