A number of recently published books draw an arc between our collective history and this moment in time. Above all sits Benjamin Labatut’s The MANIAC, a fictional account of the life and work of John von Neumann.

Von Neumann is a singular intellect. It’s nearly impossible to catalogue his contributions in the fields of mathematics, physics, computers, and weapons, let alone his influence in other fields. Von Neumann, born in Budapest in 1903, entered in his late teens the rich and dynamic intellectual environment of Europe in the 1920s. Von Neumann earned a PhD in Mathematics from the University of Budapest concurrently earning a degree in chemical engineering from ETH Zurich. More unusual than his ability to work simultaneously across disciplines, was von Neumann’s equal adeptness in theory and the practice. Von Neumann soon found himself among the luminaries of physics as they struggled with the founding concepts of quantum mechanics.

The rise of antisemitism and a decline in academic freedom in Europe saw the emigration of von Neumann along with many of his brilliant colleagues, several of Hungarian Jewish descent – the so-called “Martians”. Von Neumann arrived at Princeton in 1930 and joined Albert Einstein, Hermann Weyl and Oswald Veblin at the Institute for Advanced Study in 1933. Ultimately von Neumann joined the Manhattan Project where his theories influenced use of the atomic bomb and his calculations ensured its detonation was as lethal as possible. Inspiration for the film and character, Dr. Strangelove, von Neumann was one of the architects of the doctrine of Mutually Assured Destruction.

Where this all gets interesting from a contemporary standpoint is within the context of the global race for Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). In 1945, von Neumann published a seminal paper on computing that led to storing programs in addition to data in memory allowing for the development of the general-purpose computer. The von Neumann Architecture is foundational to modern computing and was the basis for the Mathematical Analyzer Numerical Integrator and Automatic Computer Model I – or the MANIAC. Von Neumann’s wife Klara Dan was one of MANIAC’s programmers.

Von Neumann’s Architecture is the practical application of Alan Turing’s theoretical work. Turing is, of course, known for the Turing Test establishing a standard for machine or artificial intelligence. Von Neumann’s later work included creating frameworks for machines to learn, evolve and self-replicate.

As humanity races to achieve another scientific milestone that von Neumann helped set in motion, one can’t help but think of the political environment that led so much of Europe’s scientific talent to emigrate to the benefit of the United States. One also can’t help but wonder if our current luminaries, like von Neumann and his Manhattan Project peers, are so focused on winning the race, they fail to fully anticipate the consequences.

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