From: Amara Graps (amara@amara.com)
Date: Thu Apr 11 2002 - 16:56:27 MDT
Dear Extropes,
In the process of digging through some U.S. INS legal definitions, I
heard a story regarding Kurt Gödel's bid for U.S. citizenship.
Hilarious, and true.
Gödel, at the time at Princeton, was convinced by Einstein to become
a U.S citizen. So he applied for U.S. citizenship. For the required
examination, Gödel studied the U.S. Constitution and several other
texts for a week. Einstein and O. Morgenstern were sponsors for the
citizenship.
On the day before the interview, Gödel told Morgenstern that he had
discovered a logical-legal possibility of transforming the United
States into a dictatorship. Morgenstern saw that the hypothetical
possibility and its likely remedy involved a complex chain of
reasoning and was clearly not suitable for consideration at the
interview. He urged Gödel to keep quiet about his discovery.
Ah well... not to be. The official in charge at the office in
Trenton was Judge Philip Forman, who had inducted Einstein in 1940
and struck up a friendship with him. He greeted them warmly and
invited them both to attend the (normally private) examination of
Gödel.
The judge began, 'You have German citizenship up to now.' Gödel
interrupted him, 'Excuse me sir, Austrian.' 'Anyhow, the wicked
dictator! but fortunately that is not possible in America.' 'On the
contrary,' Gödel interjected, 'I know how that can happen.' The
judge, however, indicated that he was not interested, and Einstein
and Morgenstern succeeded in quieting the examinee down. A few
months later, Gödel took his oath of citizenship.
What was the logical flaw that Gödel saw? It's not known for sure,
but you can learn more here:
A logician challenges the Constitution
http://www.linguafranca.com/9802/hyp.html
References and story from Serafino and the following sources:
John W. Dawson Jr., 'Logical Dilemmas' - 'The Life and Work
of Kurt Goedel', A.K. Peters publ., 1997, pages 179-181, and
page 300 (note 431)
Gödel and the Constitution of the United States
(Hao Wang, Reflections on Kurt Gödel, p. 115f)
http://www.sm.luth.se/~torkel/eget/godel/constitution.html
-- ******************************************************************** Amara Graps, PhD email: amara@amara.com Computational Physics vita: ftp://ftp.amara.com/pub/resume.txt Multiplex Answers URL: http://www.amara.com/ ******************************************************************** "Take time to consider. The smallest point may be the most essential." Sherlock Holmes (The Adventure of the Red Circle)
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