Re:A man who tried to redeem the world with logic (2015)
by thebeastie on Thursday February 10, 2022 @06:30AM
(#30284800)
Someone like pitts may have needed a story to give himself some kind of existential validity in the world, and to give the world meaning (see also Neitsche). People in this position are prone to attaching themselves to grandiose ideas. Still, it sounds like he would have been fine, had it not been for what happened with Weiner.
Re:A man who tried to redeem the world with logic (2015)
by 2snakes on Wednesday February 09, 2022 @07:16PM
(#30280748)
Just add more axioms as the universe expands. That's arguably a valid interpretation of Godel, who put the nail in the coffin of the positivists who had goals around Principia Mathematica.
I've always been intrigued by mathematicians, which is probably the best label for Pitts. That world can be as virtual as it gets. Based on his fascination for Principia Mathematica, I have the sense that Pitts may have needed the world to fit into a neat representation that he felt he could navigate. Perhaps when he found it didn't, he lost 'faith' and became untethered from it.