Wesley C. Salmon Memorial Lecture - Jenann Ismael (Johns Hopkins University)

October 6, 2023 - 3:30pm

Godel Meets Laplace 

There’s an understanding of what determinism entails illustrated by the familiar image that Laplace gave us of a demon that can predict everything that will happen in the universe from knowledge of initial conditions. I’ll argue that there are both specific and general reasons that there could never be a Laplacian demon in the world: not for classical mechanics, not for any theory.    

Location and Address

Cathedral of Learning 
4200 Fifth Ave
Room 1008
Pittsburgh, PA 15260