What Do Gödel's Incompleteness Theorems Mean?

(quantamagazine.org)

16 points | by baruchel a day ago ago

2 comments

  • marojejian 19 hours ago ago

    Interesting points in here.

    e.g. that Godel didn't think this scrapped Hilbert's project totally:

    >Gödel believed that it was possible to redefine what we mean by a formal mathematical framework, or allow for alternative frameworks. He often discussed an infinite sequence of acceptable logical systems, each more powerful than the last. Every well-formulated mathematical question might be answerable within one of them.

    • lioeters 7 hours ago ago

      That part you quoted was interesting to me too. I remember once re-reading the incompleteness theorems - where it talks about a "finite set of axioms", it seemed there may be a loophole if we can imagine a theoretically infinite set of axioms, as a way to approach completeness.

      Overall I really enjoyed this article, short interviews with mathematicians and philosophers on a topic I've often thought about.