Pondering “The Big Questions”

As many veterans of the communications and media businesses might agree, it’s the big questions that capture our attention most. Not surprisingly, then, I read Steven E. Landsburg’s “The Big Questions” with great interest.

“The Big Questions” is a funky book, like an intellectual roller coaster ride through some of the most fascinating ideas in science, math and economics. These are the ideas, says the author – a University of Rochester professor of economics – that unlock the most perplexing mysteries in philosophy and life, in general. His book is a thought provoking blast.

The title of chapter 12, for example, is The Rules of Logic and the Tale of the Potbellied Pig. It begins by quoting Bertrand Russell:

The point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as not to seem worth stating and to end with something so paradoxical that no one will believe it.

Philosophers ask, “Why is there something instead of nothing? or more prosaically, “Where did the Universe come from?” Landsburg turns to the physicists and mathematicians for answers, and explains the relevant science in clear and gripping prose.

Philosophers ask, “How is knowledge possible?” Landsburg turns to the economists who know what it’s like, when faced with a mountain of raw data, to tease out causation from correlation.

In a non-technical approach, Landsburg explains exactly how it’s done, and illustrates the technique with applications to medicine, politics, warfare, basketball strategy and even the market for Internet porn. Talk about thought provoking?! One of the things you might wonder is what goes on inside Landsburg’s mind.

Philosophers ask, “What justifies a belief?” Landsburg turns to the mathematicians who have been forced to confront this question by the realization that not all mathematical truths can be proven.

In fact, he gives an explicit example: In a game where Hercules tries to cut off the heads of an exceptionally persistent hydra, it is both true and unprovable that he’s sure to win. From this, he muses fruitfully on the sources, strengths and reliability of our beliefs in everything from the consistency of arithmetic to the existence (or non-existence) of God.

Steve Landsburg

Philosophers ask, “What is the difference between right and wrong?” Once again, Landsburg turns to the economists, who have some surprising insights into the way our actions affect our neighbors. This leads to a dazzling array of counterintuitive arguments to prove we’d be better off with, among other things, more open borders, a bigger population, and more … casual sex. Are you beginning to get the idea that Landsburg has a sense of humor?

Do be prepared to be infuriated. Landsburg wants to challenge everything you think you know. So he has a habit of serving up apparently airtight arguments with “obviously wrong” conclusions. Is it okay to kill a man to cure a billion headaches? Is it okay to trash the earth and make it unlivable for future generations? Maybe not, but Landsburg is sure to shake your confidence.

Along the way, you’ll learn more than you ever thought possible about the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle (explained here clearly and succinctly and without recourse to the mysticism that usually surrounds popular expositions of this key physical concept), Kurt Godel’s Incompleteness Theorem on trivial axioms of mathematics, the mechanics of color vision, the source of ripples on a pond, the prospects for artificial intelligence, multiple Universes, free will, neurobiology, rabbinic ideas about Talmudic law, and why circus clowns are more socially responsible than Olympic athletes.

Landsburg’s writing style is a light touch, understandable, and an infectious sense of fun in every chapter. If you like fresh, imaginative and thought-provoking ideas, you’ll love Steven Landsburg’s “The Big Questions.” (Published by Free Press, November 2009. ISBN 978-1439148211.)