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SUMMARY:Between Mathematics\, Logic\, and Computing: Writing as the Materi
 al Culture of Theory - David Dunning (Smithsonian Institution)
DTSTART:20250501T143000Z
DTEND:20250501T153000Z
UID:TALK230410@talks.cam.ac.uk
DESCRIPTION:In this talk I will present material from my current book proj
 ect\, Writing the Rules of Reason: The Social Life of Notation from Logic 
 to Computing. It is a history of two fundamental transformations in the st
 udy of logic: First\, logic was reconstructed from a humanistic study of r
 eason to a mathematical science. Second\, this new mathematical science wa
 s taken as a theoretical foundation for digital computing. I tell these in
 tertwined stories by focusing on writing. How exactly does one write down 
 an abstract logical statement? Before any theoretical construct could be e
 mbodied in a machine\, it was first embodied on paper. Logicians always de
 pended on inscriptive techniques to give physical form to their ideas\, an
 d different authors approached this problem in disparate ways. By centerin
 g notations and their communities of users\, I show how the most abstract 
 of sciences was rooted in the local milieus around an emerging transnation
 al network of practitioners. Their work in logic was intertwined with loca
 l cultures and commitments. As notations proliferated\, the growing divers
 ity of symbolic techniques ultimately shaped not only the presentation but
  also the content of logic.&nbsp\;My project builds on literature that has
  emphasized the importance of writing in the history of math\, and calls f
 or even great attention to the activities that record and perform theory o
 n material surfaces. Focusing on writing grounds the history of math in hi
 stories of human practice.
LOCATION:Seminar Room 1\, Newton Institute
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