BEGIN:VCALENDAR PRODID:-//Grails iCalendar plugin//NONSGML Grails iCalendar plugin//EN VERSION:2.0 CALSCALE:GREGORIAN METHOD:PUBLISH BEGIN:VEVENT DTSTAMP:20260501T133101Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20250411T090000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20250413T170000 SUMMARY:Ultrafinitism: Physics\, Mathematics\, and Philosophy UID:20260505T003224Z-iCalPlugin-Grails@philevents-web-6b96c54f56-bljdq TZID:America/New_York LOCATION:Columbia University\, New York\, United States DESCRIPTION:

There are established doubts about the real numbers\, and even the natural numbers\, understood as a 'completed' infinite set. \; What\, though\, about enormous finite numbers\, like the floor of the first Skewes's number? \; In what sense are these more real\, clear or tangible than infinite ones? \; Could not the universe be finite? \; Might it be physically impossible to compute \;this number? \; Although the idea that even large natural numbers "do not exist" -- or\, perhaps better\, that certain questions about them lack determinate answers -- is periodically advanced\, it is usually dismissed as untenably radical. \; For example\, A. S. Troelstra disregards such an idea in his Constructivism in Mathematics on the ground that "no satisfactory development exists at present." \; At this conference\, experts from philosophy\, mathematics\, physics\, and linguistics will clarify what ultrafinitism is and whether it is true. Peer reviewed contributions will appear in a two volume special edition of Philospohia Mathematica.

\n

Friday\, April 11th (at the East Gallery\, Maison Francaise)

\n

10:30&ndash\;10:45: Arrival and greetings

\n

10:45&ndash\;11:00: Opening remarks\, Justin Clarke Doane (Columbia University)

\n

11:00&ndash\;11:30: Rohit Parikh (CUNY)

\n

11:30&ndash\;11:50: Q&\;A

\n

11:50&ndash\;12:20: Walter Dean (University of Warwick)

\n

12:20&ndash\;12:40: Q&\;A

\n

12:40&ndash\;2:10: Lunch

\n

2:10&ndash\;2:40: Doron Zeilberger (Rutgers University)

\n

2:40&ndash\;3:00: Q&\;A

\n

3:00&ndash\;3:30: Sean Carroll (Johns Hopkins University\, Sante Fe Institute)

\n

3:30&ndash\;3:50: Q&\;A

\n

3:50&ndash\;4:20: Sam Buss (University of California\, San Diego)

\n

4:20&ndash\;4:40: Q&\;A

\n

4:40&ndash\;5:10: Break

\n

5:10&ndash\;5:40: Tim Maudlin (New York University)

\n

5:40&ndash\;6:00: Q&\;A

\n

6:30: Dinner

\n\n

Saturday\, April 12th (Talks will be in the Lynn Chu Classroom MLC LL002 at the Milstein Center\, reception at Sulzberger Parlor in Barnard Hall)

\n

10:30&ndash\;10:45: Arrival and greetings

\n

10:45&ndash\;11:15: Crispin Wright (New York University\, University of Stirling)\, from Zoom

\n

11:15&ndash\;11:35: Q&\;A

\n

11:35&ndash\;12:05: Andrá\;s Kornai (Budapest Institute of Technology)

\n

12:05&ndash\;12:25: Q&\;A

\n

12:25&ndash\;1:45: Lunch

\n

1:45&ndash\;2:15: Pavel Pudlá\;k (Czech Academy of Sciences)

\n

2:15&ndash\;2:35: Q&\;A

\n

2:35&ndash\;3:05: Toby Meadows and James Weatherall (University of California\, Irvine)\, (James Weatherall will be speaking from Zoom)

\n

3:05&ndash\;3:25: Q&\;A

\n

3:25&ndash\;3:55: Vladimir Sazonov (University of Liverpool)

\n

3:55&ndash\;4:15: Q&\;A

\n

4:15&ndash\;4:45: Break

\n

4:45&ndash\;5:15: Joel David Hamkins (University of Notre Dame)

\n

5:15&ndash\;5:35: Q&\;A

\n

5:35&ndash\;6:30: Reception

\n\n

Sunday\, April 13th (Talks will be in the Lynn Chu Classroom MLC LL002 in the Milstein Center)

\n

10:30&ndash\;10:45: Arrival and greetings

\n

10:45&ndash\;11:15: Lee Smolin (Perimeter Institute)\, from Zoom

\n

11:15&ndash\;11:35: Q&\;A

\n

11:35&ndash\;12:05: Zuzana Haniková\; (Czech Academy of Sciences)

\n

12:05&ndash\;12:25: Q&\;A

\n ORGANIZER;CN=Justin Clarke-Doane;CN=Zimu Zhang: METHOD:PUBLISH END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR