^TagSanta Fe Institute

close up of dandelion on the blue background

^{Type
post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
July 9, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
Arts and Culture, Cormac McCarthy, Fate, fiction, Nick Romeo, Santa Fe Institute, Scientific American, Stella Maris, The Passenger}

Cormac McCarthy’s Love for Science and Mathematics

_{His interest in science and mathematics were not extraneous hobbies but performed a strong role in the fiction he wrote} _{Peter Biles

July 9, 2023

2

Arts & Culture}

The late novelist Cormac McCarthy passed away on June 13th in Santa Fe, leaving a legacy of fictional works grappling with fate, masculine alienation, and the possibility of a transcendent reality. McCarthy’s two last books, The Passenger and Stella Maris, which are intended to be read together, are about a brother and sister who are both brilliant mathematicians, and whose father helped craft the atomic bomb with the Manhattan Project. McCarthy’s work is haunted both by a bleak fatalism and glimpses of an enduring reality beyond the merely physical. His interest in science and mathematics were not extraneous hobbies; they performed a strong role in the fiction he wrote. Nick Romeo writes at Scientific American, Science is also a source Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
June 25, 2023

Categorized
Mathematics, Science

Tagged
Charles Darwin, Cormac McCarthy, El Paso, Evolution, fiction, Lawrence Krauss, Materialism, Mathematics, novels, Physics, Santa Fe Institute, science, Stella Maris, The Passenger}

Is Mathematics an Illusion? Lawrence Krauss and Cormac McCarthy Discuss

_{McCarthy asked, "Would mathematics be here if we weren't?"} _{Peter Biles

June 25, 2023

3

Mathematics, Science}

In December, physicist and author Lawrence Krauss interviewed the late American novelist Cormac McCarthy, who died on June 13th at the age of 89 in Santa Fe, N.M. McCarthy is famous for his remarkable fictional works like The Road and Blood Meridian, but he was also deeply fascinated with mathematics and science. Apparently, he enjoyed reading science more than he did fiction! He moved to Santa Fe from El Paso to be closer to the Santa Fe Institute, a science think tank where McCarthy would spend time speaking with various physicists, scientists, and mathematicians. His latest two novels, The Passenger and Stella Maris, are about a brother and sister who are both brilliant mathematicians. Towards the beginning of the interview, Read More ›

^{Type
post

Author
Peter Biles
Date
June 13, 2023

Categorized
Arts & Culture

Tagged
Blood Meridian, Consciousness, Cormac McCarthy, MacArthur Foundation, New York Times, Santa Fe, Santa Fe Institute, Scalp hunters, Texas and Mexico, The Road}

Cormac McCarthy, Author of “The Road” & “Blood Meridian,” Dead at 89

_{McCarthy thought that if the book didn't deal staunchly with matters of life and death, it was best left unwritten} _{Peter Biles

June 13, 2023

2

Arts & Culture}

American author Cormac McCarthy, who was known for his dark and often macabre novels, died on June 13th at his home in Santa Fe, N.M. He was 89. McCarthy was one of America’s most formidable and talented authors. He began his career in Tennessee, writing novels primarily about Appalachia. He moved to El Paso in 1976, where, thanks to funding from the MacArthur Foundation, he wrote Blood Meridian, a ruthless tale of vagabond outlaws wandering Texas and Mexico on scalping expeditions. Many critics find this to be his best work. McCarthy went on to write The Road, a post-apocalyptic novel published in 2006, which he dedicated to his son, John. The Road tells the story of a father and his Read More ›

People taking classes at language school

^{Type
post

Author
News
Date
December 30, 2022

Categorized
Language

Tagged
Eurasian Altaic language group, John Gallagher, Kensy Cooperrider, Language learning, Language origin, Santa Fe Institute, Tibi Puiu}

Some Questions and Answers About Language From Recent Research

_{The hardest language, the best way to learn a language, and peering into the shadowy origin of language} _{News

December 30, 2022

6

Language}

Can there be such a thing as “the hardest language to learn”? At ZME Science, science writer Tibi Puiu dives into the question, starting with the assumption that the learner is an English speaker: After 70 years of experience teaching languages to American diplomats, the U.S. Foreign Service has grouped foreign languages into four categories of difficulty. The easiest language group requires 575-600 hours of study (23-24 weeks of classroom study) for students to achieve sufficient competence to be posted overseas, whereas the hardest group requires at least 2,200 hours of study (88 weeks of full-time classroom study) to achieve the same level of proficiency. In other words, some languages can be 3-4 times harder to master than others. Tibi Read More ›