))
Ep 10: Mark Mac Lean on Mathematics in 'Neverness' by David Zindell
Manage episode 376282115 series 3484627
Content provided by Marty Kurylowicz and Holly Carson, Marty Kurylowicz, and Holly Carson. All podcast content including episodes, graphics, and podcast descriptions are uploaded and provided directly by Marty Kurylowicz and Holly Carson, Marty Kurylowicz, and Holly Carson or their podcast platform partner. If you believe someone is using your copyrighted work without your permission, you can follow the process outlined here https://player.fm/legal.
Marty has a conversation about David Zindell's 'Neverness' with Mark Mac Lean, professor of Mathematics at the University of British Columbia. We talk about the poetic and philosophical use of mathematics as the engine of faster-than-light travel in the Neverness universe, and contemplate the relationship of mathematics to truth, beauty, perfection, and physical reality. Along the way we discuss the foundations of mathematics, Godel's incompleteness theorems, the Reimann hypothesis and the continuity theorem, both the real one and its fictional twin in the novel. We also reflect on what a gift it is that David Zindell is able to convey the feeling of doing mathematics, and the almost mystical experience of connecting to this seemingly higher realm of reality.
Mark Mac Lean:
https://personal.math.ubc.ca/~maclean/maclean.html
David Zindell:
https://www.davidzindell.com/
Buzzsprout (podcast host):
https://thescienceinthefiction.buzzsprout.com
Email:
thescienceinthefiction@gmail.com
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/743522660965257/
Twitter:
https://twitter.com/MartyK5463
34 episodes
Share
