Dinner conversations (contd.)

0:00 What's not obvious is that other people will die, and it's not even necessarily true that you will see other people die, because you could go first. You may see other people die. Is that something that you don't? It's even possible that, you know, a thousand times he's crazy for hours to live off them. I don't think so, but, you know, you have room for more. But instead of being obsessed about it, why not decide to have children, pour your lives into them, and if you don't have children, pour your lives into the people, the youth, the people who will come after us. And try and give them the tools, whether it be the tools of mathematics or of any other field of theory, to make the world better for them and for their children. It's just the fact of it that it's rather close to what you've got right now. That's right. Well, that's why I was wondering. Well, that's why I was wondering. It doesn't mean a lot. It doesn't mean a lot. It doesn't mean a lot. It doesn't mean a lot. It doesn't mean a lot. It doesn't mean a lot. It doesn't mean a lot. It doesn't mean a lot. It doesn't mean a lot. It doesn't mean a lot. It doesn't mean a lot. It doesn't mean a lot. It doesn't mean a lot. It doesn't mean a lot. It doesn't mean a lot. It doesn't mean a lot. It doesn't mean a lot. It doesn't mean a lot. And here are the children to come after you.

2:30 Thank you for your attention. But the children, I wish I could remember the exact line, but you know, the reply, this would be the reply to that. No, that's not the problem. That's to, and I'm quite forgotten the next line, but you know, that may well be tied around in you, I'm speaking about the children. And that is what I would look for, curiously, although because, you know, I haven't had children, and I would like to have done so. Well, well, well, don't, but I'll be honest with you about myself. The way that one should, uh, the mathematics one should do it. Oh, sure, sure. No, I, uh, I'm trying. It's not my best. I can't fail to learn it at all. Well, yes, of course. Of course there has to be. I, I, I've spent a lot of time... I don't want to keep that for granted. I'll take it out of the great shot. Thank you for your attention. If I gravitate, you know what will all happen. The one thing we know will all happen is each of us will die. Will Patricia die before me? I don't know.

5:00 But that is the most curious thing. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. What is the hope for? Yeah. Yeah. Of course. Of course. Of course. Of course. Of course. Of course. Of course. Of course. Of course. Why should I spend my life obsessed with the things I will not feel? When death comes to me, I hope I am in my garden, and thinking about it. Thank you for watching. But I think, why spend your life devoured by an obsession about the things that you will not get? What homogeny is trying to do? Oh, surely. I mean, come on, warn these young people and tell us some other things. I mean, even you would know. I'm going to be careful. I'm a 20-year-old. I'm a 20-year-old. Well, no, no, stop it, please. I know, I know, but it's just... I worry about all this that I did when I was a... I'm not worried. I'm not worried about it. I'm stuck with it. It's trying to stop it like you are, but I won't. I would suggest now opening in front of the audience that I got into more of an Australian audience junk when I was in my teens. When is this going to get to work? These kind of rich Californians who have their bodies closed at the base of the sub-universe of nanotechnology will...

7:30 Thank you for your attention. I think I, it's actually a pure color, Michael Balcevich, but around the age of chemistry, you and I, it's a drop. That was a very, it was. I know, in the end, Paul and I follow the same course, it's a very strange, uh, no, you know, these crazy people who think that if, uh, you know, if you're Paul Kutcher and, you know, you're not a technologist, you're not a physicist, you're not a physicist, you're not a physicist. I mean, if it did, it wouldn't make any difference. The values by which any sane person ought to live their life are what they would perceive as terrible and repulsive. It's very interesting. It tends to be very selfish when rich people are obsessed with that. But what I'm almost more intrigued by is the kind of reverse of the question. We're trying to theorize and understand that it would be intolerable, it would be a horror even more. Why do they say that? I think being able to have new thoughts for all eternity would be great. I mean, that is not going to happen to me. But I do actually think that might be a huge mistake. There are many different kinds of consciousness that humanity might evolve into, in which it was possible, and if that was so, that would be great. And I'd love to think that what we're doing here might actually, somehow, be genuinely aware of it. Because then the subjective awareness and the objective structure of the universe would actually... Well, obviously the one would become part of the other. Thank you for your attention.

10:00 I hope that you enjoyed that, but as I said, my life is pointless and horrible, and I'll go on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on and on Of course, it's a very nice, beautiful idea. Dr. Bell, you are under oath in this court. We can see you don't have a question for my counsel. Just for the fact. That they do matter to other people, that they will matter to living beings who will come long after you, matter at all, objectively, ultimately. I'm not long after. It gives me a reason to care more about, say, Michael Jackson than, um, than, um, than, um, than, um, than, um, than, um, than, um, than, um, than, um, than, um, than, um,

12:30 The Stoics thought about this a great deal, don't they? I find Marcus a realist. You know, let me give it a chance. I thought it was a great thing to say. There's more to say. There's a long time of... Well, a little bit. Of course. But I'm cautious. One realizes that it's exactly the same. Why should I care more about the Iraq War than about the Belgian massacre in the Congo? You know? Thank you for your attention. Just because one is closer in time, I mean, what happened when my grandparents were still alive 2000 years ago? Thank you for your attention. But if you take John's point of view, you can't give a damn about anybody else. Thank you for your attention.

15:00 I don't know, but you know what I mean. I mean... The physical thing, which has no connection whatsoever, apparently. And then we have, DiMaggio thinks it's important to expect that this is a brain surgeon. And we can... There's no way to agree. Thank you for your attention. Thank you for your attention.

17:30 There are apparently, I'm told, not just severely brain damaged, there are people who are almost 90% of the brain that tissue or normal human being missing entirely. I mean, the brain can just make huge, you know, back, you know, the surrounding cerebellum, you would think, would be pretty well gone, but we do have some... They are able to function. Thank you for your attention. I don't think you emerged as a pattern in that one that I would like to follow.

20:00 They all fit together. They could all be done better by the only... Including categories. Including categories. Including categories. Tomorrow's discussion. You're right. I mean, it's something kind of unique. I guess, you know, but... Why? Why? Probably for your psychological reasons. I know that for the obvious, actually. I mean, you know, I don't know. I mean, you say that, I don't see it. Thank you. Don't raise your hand if you're guilty. Was it me? No, I went there and he punched me in the butt. Uh-huh. He didn't. He didn't. He didn't. He didn't. He didn't. He didn't. He didn't. He didn't. He didn't. I did virtually finish writing up, but my father had a stroke and my mother, they both are extremely ill and they need almost...

22:30 I had to give up, I had to give up everything. I didn't care of anything to look after in life. I just craved it. But I had this, if you like, this kind of how math fits within our conception of the world.

25:00 There are performers, there are composers, there are performers, and there are listeners. In fact, they don't even have, by the way, the concept of a class or situation. I'm trying to remember some of the stories. Anyway, I just thought I might be able to do some good by arranging a series of conferences. Yes, because that was about September 1994. And it became obvious to me that this was something useful that I could do. I just ran this little travel company and just made my way to survive. Before, before I started creating this kind of, before I met Bill, I think, you know, William was probably about 20% of that. He was really kind of excited about it.

27:30 And, uh, we'll go on again in a couple of years. Just because he's, you know, I do like John, but just because, you know, he was a child, probably at six years old, he thought he was going to be able to handle it. What did he do? Six years old, he fought in the army. And when it hit him, you know, whatever it was, when it hit him in the 13th, he wasn't in the army. He's a Hale? He was, at the time, very talented. So, he went to this army. Then I had a problem, because I was represented very early on, because of the fact that I was very ordinary, out of the normal run of the mill, and I was a passionately interested in... In the nature of mathematical understanding, it was completely... But I never had any delusions that I was mathematically talented and was going to do anything in the subject itself, as opposed to trying to do mathematics going on. The best that I could do was to be a very small cog, let it sail up a little, probably a little screw.

30:00 Can I just ask, when you're talking about that, it gives me all the thought of turning my head like that and enjoying the scenery along the way, friendship and all the other things that count, and I don't know because I'm not very musical, I mean I join music, and I've listened to great music, but because John got the idea that he'd make a verse 13 just like he was, and the melody, he wears it remotely. I'm sorry, it's such a kind of little child that's kind of howling for me because it discovers that it isn't a universe. I am a messy human being with any kind of sensitivity or awareness goes to it. But most of us do get to it, you know, by our testimony to him. But you can see it tonight. Yeah. It's sad. It's very old. Well, it might have a few other things, with the help of wine and friends, and, you know, for me, just to be able to get a sufficiently clear sense of the big picture, of the view from a distance, of how it all fits together, just like, I guess, some of the appreciation for our music. It feels like they're here. Yeah. Like in the... But Khorchon is Salieri. Yeah.

32:30 I never aspired to be Salieri. Let alone Mozart. I'm just happy. I'm just blissfully happy that I'm lucky enough to be in a universe which can test Mozart. Actually, it tests Salieri as well. But Khorchon is Salieri and I really feel sorry for him. You know, there's no point in venturing about, oh, but all you've been doing is talking all the time. No, look, I'm sorry, if somebody like me that's a complete outsider, just how he should have seen, he is a, I mean, the idea that we should just spend the last week sitting back and talking, I don't know, one of the many, I mean, you can do that any bloody time, any number of websites, you know, I mean, that's something to have a day at the end. The categories have been as such, but I'll have to go on with that, but I'm not going to let you... ...to the same group, if that's all you're afraid to do. Oh, yeah? Yeah. Yeah, why don't you sit around and sort of, you know, bring the pattern, you know, and show me how it goes. No, thank you. This is a serious... Yeah. This is a serious topic. I'm sorry, John, but I'm not going to be able to come back by the time you've done the lesson or so. Most of us have to do it then. Yeah. I wish to God that I'll be able to see it from where it is it's been here. I mean, John Mabry, because although he is an on-person mainstream physician and not remotely a physician, so is Mr. Hawking, or Anderson, in terms of his power, nonetheless is one of the most scrupulous and careful thinkers about foundations that I know, and always act unlike what John Mabry and John Stein said.

35:00 I'm sorry, I know John Mabry. John Mabry is my friend. He's really close. He's been a friend of 20 years. Sadly, no John Mabry would often react that way. John would be absolutely ravenous to understand exactly what these guys are talking about. And when he didn't understand, he'd put really sharp, probing questions to other people. This last year, before retirement, there was a complete change to this. You know, Milton, as I said before, he knows more philosophy than any professor in the philosophy department. He's from Eton College, which is so far from understanding the world. Yeah, I agree. But I'm really outplaying the relevance of that literature that I'm so stuck in lately.

37:30 He's also a really, so I wish you'd known that I could have got him and John here, but in spite of that, he's been very, I hope so, I don't think so, I certainly have, don't you have, a piece of the report, it's all gone session, can't you, of course, so I'm now all alert.