Finished reading: Maniac, by Benjamin Labatut. The book traces the evolution of mathematics toward artificial intelligence, passing through the atomic bomb along the way.

The first section focuses on Paul Ehrenfest. Disturbed by the growing unintelligibility of quantum theory and struggling with depression, he ultimately killed his disabled son and himself. His story introduces the book’s central theme: minds overwhelmed by the implications of their own field.

The second and longest section centers on John von Neumann, from child prodigy in Hungary, to architect of nuclear strategy — as part of the Manhattan project — and pioneer of modern computation — through the MANIAC computer. Each chapter is told from the perspective of someone in von Neumann’s orbit: family members, friends, or colleagues.

The final section turns to Lee Sedol and his defeat by AlphaGo in a historic Go tournament.

Across its three parts, the book examines how extreme intellectual brilliance fuels transformative breakthroughs — and how those breakthroughs blur the line between reason and madness, creation and annihilation, human mastery and human obsolescence.

j’éprouvais non seulement une tristesse accablante devant le sort de mon ami d’entance, qui tombait à présent en chute libre vers la mort, le déclin et peut-être même - Dieu l’en garde - la folie, mais une touche de soulagement qui m’a rendu extrêmement honteux. Oui, songeais-je, Janos était humain après tout, pas seulement un génie mais aussi un ivrogne imbécile, comme nous tous.

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