The MANIAC

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From one of contemporary literature’s most exciting new voices comes a haunting story centered on the Hungarian polymath John von Neumann, exploring the profound impact of his legacy on the dreams and nightmares of the twentieth century and the emerging age of AI. Benjamín Labatut’s electrifying narrative captivates readers, following the lives of mathematicians and physicists who ventured into strange, often perilous realms of science. In this ambitious work, Labatut presents von Neumann, a prodigious talent whose brilliance instilled both awe and fear, as he revolutionized various fields—inventing game theory, the first programmable computer, and pioneering AI and digital life. Through a chorus of voices—family, friends, colleagues, and rivals—Labatut illustrates the evolution of von Neumann's unmatched intellect and the far-reaching consequences of his work. The narrative unfolds as a literary triptych, beginning with Paul Ehrenfest, an Austrian physicist and friend of Einstein, who succumbed to despair over the tyrannical forces of science and technology. It culminates a century later in the historic match between South Korean Go Master Lee Sedol and the AI program AlphaGo, embodying the essence of von Neumann's unfinished project: creating a self-reproducing machine capable of evolving beyond human understanding. This work confronts us with the deepest questions we face as a species, blending beauty with a powerful momen