God Created the Integers, Man Created God

Michael Atiyah gives a presidential address on Mind, Matter, and Mathematics (good alliteration).  In it he discusses the difference between mathematical philosophy and natural philosophy.  It’s an interesting read throughout.
But, near the end he says:
Mathematical physicists believe that there are indeed simple and beautiful mathematical equations that govern the universe, and that the task of [...]

My new favorite way to waste time at work… without really wasting it

I think my job is a little uptight to let me bring my guitar in and start banging away. But I have this laptop sitting in front of me. I spent all of an hour or two playing around with Fruity Loops before. Not exactly the recipe for a virtuoso electronic composition. A friend that’s devoted a lot more of his life than I to creative pursuits recently turned me on to something better, though.

Free Will, God, and Newcomb’s Problem: Part 2

In the last post on Newcomb’s problem and Free Will, we went over a 2 person game to be played with God. The key problem we were facing was whether or not Free will can coexist with an all knowing being that has powerful predictive capabilities. That is, if God always knows what [...]

Lurking…

Well, I am happy to see that with the start of school that our viewing stats are up!  I hope that y’all are getting something from our posts – but I am also hoping for something from you!  Yes, feedback and content – as has been said many times before, mathematics is a social endeavor!  [...]

Proof of God … Again

I promise to soon finish my discussion about Newcomb’s freewill/god paradox, but in lieu of that, here’s a post by MarkCC ranting about yet another “proof” of God.
Our genius prover starts off with a bunch of definitions. They’re a classical example of what I call “obfuscatory mathematics”; that is, mathematical notations and definitions that [...]

The Existence of Free Will: Newcomb’s Problem

William Newcomb, a physicist at the Livermore Radiation Lab in California, in 1960 posed a problem, about which the great Philosopher Robert Nozick said, “it is a beautiful problem. I wish it were mine.”It’s a problem that highlights the trouble with the idea of Free Will. To illustrate it, I am using the [...]

Pic of the Day: Socrates takes Hemlock

Since the (tentative) name of this blog is so heavily reliant on the Greek Philosophical tradition, I thought it appropriate to put up a picture about the founder of that tradition, and what happens to such philosophers when they get “uppity.”  From Socrates came Plato, from Plato came Aristotle and his school the Lyceum.
The [...]

The Blog Starts Rolling

This is at least somewhat in the nature of a test, but also a chance to introduce myself- Eric the Red or Leif the Lucky? I go by Felicis and a large part of the attraction of mathematics for me is in the interplay of language and logic. These are [...]

The Lyceum Mathematikoi Test Post

This is a test post.  This post is only a test.  Do not pass go, do not collect two-hundred dollars mod n.