The One True Platonic Heaven: A Scientific Fiction on the Limits of Knowledge

The One True Platonic Heaven: A Scientific Fiction on the Limits of Knowledge

By John L. Casti

Joseph Henry Press, 2003. 160 pgs. Nonfiction

The “One True Platonic Heaven” referred to here is the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton, New Jersey. The Institute was founded in 1930, some 16 years prior to the setting of this story. The “story” consists of the debate surrounding the proposed building of a computer at the Institute. Why the debate? Some Institute faculty consider thought to be their undertaking—not the building or designing of anything—that would be “engineering”; and engineering's place was elsewhere: in academia, industry, or in government.

There are a number of scientific and mathematical developments of the early 20^th century touched upon in this sequence of speculative conversations. Time travel, quantum physics, and the computer are all topics of conversation with an underlying theme of the nature of scientific knowledge. The conversations depicted are simply a vehicle to explore the ideas of these men and the dynamics between them. Sprinkled with insights into the character (and a few idiosyncrasies) of these intellectual giants, this slim volume is a pleasurable read for anyone with a little interest in quantum theory, relativity, or pure mathematics.

SML