Math, Computation, and the Nature of Reality: What’s the relation?

From Plato’s world of forms to the geometry of snowflakes and the logic of living systems, math and computation seem to run through everything — but are they descriptions of reality, or ingredients of it? In this session, we’ll explore how Plato, Alan Turing, John von Neumann, Stephen Wolfram, and Michael Levin each approached the deep question of how form, function, and information intertwine.

We’ll also ask: what can these perspectives teach us about how fragments become agents — how patterns in matter give rise to meaning, intention, and mind?

Links to key readings and sources for discussion will be shared ahead of the event.