Related papers: Foundations of Mathematics
Some Goedel centenary reflections on whether incompleteness is really serious, and whether mathematics should be done somewhat differently, based on using algorithmic complexity measured in bits of information. [Enriques lecture given…
The overarching theme of the following pages is that mathematical logic -- centered around the incompleteness theorems -- is first and foremost an investigation of $\textit{computation}$, not arithmetic. Guided by this intuition we will…
The world of mathematics is often considered abstract, with its symbols, concepts, and topics appearing unrelated to physical objects. However, it is important to recognize that the development of mathematics is fundamentally influenced by…
A new viewpoint of the G\"odel's incompleteness theorem be given in this article which reveals the deep relationship between the logic and computation. Upon the results of these studies, an algorithm be given which shows how to search a…
The halting probability of a Turing machine,also known as Chaitin's Omega, is an algorithmically random number with many interesting properties. Since Chaitin's seminal work, many popular expositions have appeared, mainly focusing on the…
Incompleteness theorems of Godel, Turing, Chaitin, and Algorithmic Information Theory have profound epistemological implications. Incompleteness limits our ability to ever understand every observable phenomenon in the universe.…
This is the transcript of a lecture given at UMass-Lowell in which I compare and contrast the work of Godel and of Turing and my own work on incompleteness. I also discuss randomness in physics vs randomness in pure mathematics.
Transcript of G.J. Chaitin's 2 March 2000 Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science Distinguished Lecture. The notion of randomness is taken from physics and applied to pure mathematics in order to shed light on the…
In this essay we'll prove G\"odel's incompleteness theorems twice. First, we'll prove them the good old-fashioned way. Then we'll repeat the feat in the setting of computation. In the process we'll discover that G\"odel's work, rightly…
We first partly develop a mathematical notion of stable consistency intended to reflect the actual consistency property of human beings. Then we give a generalization of the first and second G\"odel incompleteness theorem to stably…
This book presents a personal account of the mathematics and metamathematics of the 20th century leading up to the discovery of the halting probability Omega. The emphasis is on history of ideas and philosophical implications.
In 1686 in his Discours de Metaphysique, Leibniz points out that if an arbitrarily complex theory is permitted then the notion of "theory" becomes vacuous because there is always a theory. This idea is developed in the modern theory of…
Primitive recursion, mu-recursion, universal object and universe theories, complexity controlled iteration, code evaluation, soundness, decidability, G\"odel incompleteness theorems, inconsistency provability for set theory, constructive…
This book is the final version of a course on algorithmic information theory and the epistemology of mathematics and physics. This is camera-ready copy prepared for publication as a book, but at the last minute I decided to publish it…
A detailed and rigorous analysis of G\"odel's proof of his first incompleteness theorem is presented. The purpose of this analysis is two-fold. The first is to reveal what G\"odel actually proved to provide a clear and solid foundation upon…
The basic notions of logic-predicate logic, Peano arithmetic, incompleteness theorems, etc.-have for long been an advanced topic. In the last decades, they became more widely taught, inphilosophy, mathematics, and computer science…
The need for formal definition of the very basis of mathematics arose in the last century. The scale and complexity of mathematics, along with discovered paradoxes, revealed the danger of accumulating errors across theories. Although,…
This is a set of 288 questions written for a Moore-style course in Mathematical Logic. I have used these (or some variation) four times in a beginning graduate course. Topics covered are: propositional logic axioms of ZFC wellorderings and…
This paper revisits the foundations of mathematical proof through the lens of Aristotle's threefold conception of truth: sensory evidence, axiomatic definition, and syllogistic deduction. I argue that modern mathematics has too often…
A remarkable new definition of a self-delimiting universal Turing machine is presented that is easy to program and runs very quickly. This provides a new foundation for algorithmic information theory. This new universal Turing machine is…