Bertrand Russell

image

I just saw Michael Levin's post about the Russell Paradox:

Russell's paradox is the most famous of the logical or set-theoretical paradoxes. The paradox arises within naive set theory by considering the set of all sets that are not members of themselves. Such a set appears to be a member of itself if and only if it is not a member of itself, hence the paradox. Some sets, such as the set of all teacups, are not members of themselves. Other sets, such as the set of all non-teacups, are members of themselves. Call the set of all sets that are not members of themselves "R." If R is a member of itself, then by definition it must not be a member of itself. Similarly, if R is not a member of itself, then by definition it must be a member of itself. Discovered by Bertrand Russell in 1901, the paradox has prompted much work in logic, set theory and the philosophy and foundations of mathematics.

As I've just passed Mr. Russell on Google for the first time, I wanted to use this opportunity to do the right thing and help set the list right again. If I link to Russell Betrand's Site, then in theory, I should be giving my Google Juice to him thus restoring his place above me on the search results (though both of us shall probably forever remain behind the fine investment bank at russell.com).

Since I think my latest shift up the rankings is tenuous at best, this should fix it once and for all. I think you high-ranking bloggers who feel that your notoriety is somewhat or totally unjustified should do the same.

-Russ

Update: It dawned on me that this could backfire and drive more traffic to my site looking for info on Bertrand instead... hmm. If I see that happen, I'll delete this post.

< Previous         Next >