What is infinity and is it real? with Edward Frenkel
Science & Cocktails Science & Cocktails
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 Published On Aug 21, 2021

Science & Cocktails is proud to present a unique episode with Edward Frenkel - mathematics superstar and acclaimed author of the book "Love and Math".

At first glance, everything around us is finite: the number of minutes in a year (or a lifetime); of grains of sand on all beaches on Earth; even of all atoms in the observed Universe. Is human experience inherently limited, or is there something in our lives that defies the confines of the finite? Is there such a thing as the Infinite? If so, what is it, and in what sense is it real? Are we related to something Infinite or not? Carl Jung called the last question the most decisive and telling question of a human life. There are many ways to approach it. In this talk, Edward Frenkel will present the mathematical perspective — logical and cerebral, yet fascinating and full of surprises. In this day and age, mathematics gives us perhaps the quickest way to taste the Infinite, he says. A rigorous mathematical theory of Infinity was initiated by Georg Cantor at the end of the XIXth century, and has become a cornerstone of modern mathematics. One of the gems of this theory is Cantor’s diagonal argument showing that Infinity comes in different sizes. Edward Frenkel, who has a reputation as “people's mathematician,” will give us glimpses of this spellbinding theory without overloading it with details, and with the help of zesty cocktails. In fact, according to him, the polarity of the finite and the Infinite can be seen through the prism of the Complementarity Principle proposed by the great Copenhagener, Niels Bohr, in his interpretation of Quantum Mechanics.

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