About Things a Computer Scientist Rarely Talks About: Interactions Between Faith and Computer Science
| Authors | Knuth, Donald E. |
|---|---|
| Date | 2001 |
| Publisher | Center for the Study of Language and Information |
| ISBN | 1-57586-327-8 |
Type: Book
Tags: aesthetics, Bible, Christian Faith, computers, God, language, randomness, Religion, Science, Spirituality, Theology
Abstract
Six public lectures given at MIT over several weeks on the relations between faith and science. After an introductory lecture, the second lecture focuses on the interaction of randomization and religion. The third lecture considers questions of language translation, with many examples drawn from the author’s experiments in which random verses of the Bible were analyzed in depth. The fourth one deals with art and aesthetics; it illustrates several ways in which beautiful presentations can greatly deepen our perception of difficult concepts. The fifth lecture discusses what the author learned from his “3:16 project,” a personal exploration of Biblical literature which he regards as a turning point in his own life. The sixth and final lecture, “God and Computer Science,” is largely independent of the other five. It deals with several new perspectives by which concepts of computer science help to shed light on many ancient and difficult questions previously addressed by scientists in other fields. A significant part of each lecture is devoted to spontaneous questions from the audience and the speaker’s impromptu responses, transcribed from videotapes of the original sessions. [A]