His page-turning books about quantum physics and game theory have given the Chilean writer a cult following – and won him famous fans from Stephen Fry to Björk and Barack Obama
His page-turning books about quantum physics and game theory have given the Chilean writer a cult following – and won him famous fans from Stephen Fry to Björk and Barack Obama
In the principal protagonist of The Maniac, John von Neumann, Labatut has found what he calls “the spirit of our age”. Von Neumann was involved with the attempt, torpedoed by Gödel, to rethink the basis of pure maths. He was a central figure in the Manhattan Project, he designed the first recognisable computer, set out the basis of game theory and was one of the fathers of artificial intelligence.
There are ancient and modern ways to expand your mind – the problem is that you never know how they will work Labatut is flamboyantly dismissive, meanwhile, of most of the things that novels do well. When I compliment him on the way he captures his speakers’ different idioms, for instance , he says: “I’m not interested. And I don’t think I’m very good at it either. Most of what people consider great writing is that talent for voices character. That’s not something that interests me.
He explains: “The people I admire the most in every field have this wondrous ability to let their unconscious bleed into what they do. I really think that the highest form of intelligence is possession from outside. I knew that I didn’t have that, so I did a bunch of very irresponsible things trying to kickstart that. And when you put yourself through that sort of ordeal, you never know what shape your mind is going to have at the end of the day.
He pauses, a little mirthful. “It’s not my cup of tea. The world is so much more interesting. This art that merely reflects back what our common experiences of the world are … Well, there’s EastEnders for that.”
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