For more information on Stanislaw Lem and his science fiction, click here.
To re-read the math poem that the electronic bard created in the story read in class today, click here and scroll down. Since I don't understand math (just ask Mr. Woelber), you can comment here to tell me what is funny in the poem.
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3 comments:
Personally, I really enjoyed this poem. I'll try to explain some of the mathematical references made in it.
In the first stanza, the poet mentions a Markov chain, and indices from 1 to n. A Markov chain is a list of variables, usually labeled with subscripts 1 to n, where each variable is only influenced by the one just before it.
The next stanza personifies a few mathematical objects, by giving them aspirations. A frustrum is a geometric object that just looks like a cone with the top cut off. The next line refers to vectors and matrices, which are collections of variables of some fixed size. Typically, they are written in the form, <x, y, z, w, ...>. Matrices are similar, except they consist of a table, rather than a list, of numbers. In the third line of the stanza, the poet writes, "Hark to the gentle gradient of the breeze." A gradient is a concept from multi-variable calculus that allows one to calculate how steep a function like z=f(x, y) is when the point (x, y) moves in different directions. Furthermore, the wind is often used as an example of a multi-variable vector field, so it makes sense that the poet uses this word in conjunction with "gradient."
In the third stanza, the only higher-level concepts mentioned are Riemann, Hilbert, and Banach spaces, which are abstract constructions presented as an alternative to what we experience in the real world, a simple, effectively infinite, Euclidean space. These spaces are given much focus in the mathematical field of Topology.
Next, the poet writes "I'll grant thee random access to my heart," which is an obvious reference to the RAM, or Random Access Memory, used in computers. Next, the poet mentions proving lemmas. A lemma is a small mathematical sub-proof used in a larger theorem.
In the fifth stanza, the poet merely name-drops several famous mathematicians, namely Augustin Cauchy, pioneer of calculus, Elwin Christoff, Fourier, who pioneered harmonic analysis, Boole, who invented the boolean logic that powers computers, and Leonhard Euler, the most prolific and versatile mathematician of his time. (See Wikipedia for more information)
The sixth stanza lists off a few more mathematical terms, choosing them mainly for the phonetic sounds they have. The abscissa is the x-axis in a graph. A mantissa is the exponent that determines the magnitude of a number written either in scientific notation or in floating point notation. Module is a term used in abstract algebra to describe the properties of some space. A mode is a statistical term that refers to the most common value in a data set. Root, of course, refers to square roots, cubic roots, etc. A torus is a geometrical shape that looks like a donut, and a node is either the graph theory term for a point or vertex, or the point in an oscillating wave between peaks and crests.
In the last stanza, the poet mentions eigenvalues, which refer back to the vectors and matrices earlier in the poem. Eigenvalues and eigenvectors are used to describe how transformations act on a plane, more specifically, which points aren't affected by the transformation.
Sweet, this'll score some serious points for my Fantasy Blog Star team!
...if it existed. I have to admit I only know about half of the terms in that poem, being only a measly Calc BC student. Lem appears to have been quite the math guy, in addition to making it into the World Lit textbook.
I think the point of this poem is really to highlight the accomplishment of the robotic poet, which is to unite the emotional with the totally logical. The part of the story where this poem appears is at the high point of the inventor's triumph (before things start going downhill). His machine has succeeded in creating emotion (symbolized by the yearning tone of the poem) out of pure computer code and logic (represented by all the mathematical references), and linking the two in a way that makes some sense. With this poem, Lem suggests that such a feat is possible. He then spends the rest of the story arguing that it is an undesirable goal.
I know even less of those terms, being a lazy pre-calc to AP Comp Sci person. :D
I get the feeling that Lems intent was to point out how bad of an idea a fully humanoid AI could be. The reason for its creation was selfish and childish (getting back at What's-his-face), and it went on to destroy thousands of peoples lives.
It could also just be making fun of the whole idea; it took the scientist an absolutely staggering amount of effort to design, construct, program and run the AI. Now to make the AI think in the same way we do, he had to simulate all of time itself up until the present day within the machine; a task so insanely difficult and time consuming as to be better off not even considered.
Lastly, he could just be making fun of poets, as the machine could only truly write poems when it became arrogant and aware of its abilities.
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