aboutlogic

Is Unique Choice Really a Choice? (Follow-up to Giovanni Sambin) | aboutlogic premises #10 If there is only one possible choice, are you making a choice at all? In this Premises, Thorsten and Deniz pick up the debate from our conversation with Giovanni Sambin: why does his minimalist foundation reject the Axiom of Unique Choice, while homotopy type theory proves it, and why does Lean make it so hard to use constructively? Join the Discussion: Have questions or thoughts to share? Drop a comment below and engage in a discussion with fellow viewers and experts.

What does set theory have to do with reality? Giovanni Sambin, Professor at the University of Padua and a leading figure in constructive mathematics, couldn't accept the standard axiomatic foundations of mathematics. So he spent nearly 50 years building an alternative from the ground up. He joins Deniz and Thorsten to discuss his new book Positive Topology, the culmination of decades of work connecting Per Martin-Löf's type theory, point-free topology, and his own "minimalist foundation" for mathematics.

Season 2 Recap: From Gödel to AI-Proved Math | aboutlogic #22 Nine guests, four emerging themes, and one big question running through all of it: what happens to mathematics when symbolic reasoning and statistical AI finally meet? In this Season 2 recap, Thorsten Altenkirch and Deniz Sarikaya look back at conversations with Urs Schreiber, Joel David Hamkins, Dana Scott, Emily Riehl, Bernhard Fisseni, Bernhard Schröder, José Pérez Escobar, Jan von Plato, Mike Shulman, Tudor Achim, and Neil Ghani — and preview where Season 3 is headed.

Why Symbolic AI Failed — and Then Won | aboutlogic Premises #09 Symbolic AI — "GOFAI" — was meant to be the foundation of machine intelligence, and it failed spectacularly in the 1980s. In this premises episode, Thorsten and Deniz explore why, and how statistical AI, the technology that replaced it, may now be quietly bringing symbolic reasoning back — including a Platonic twist: if Plato thought the world of ideas came first, modern AI suggests structure and reasoning actually emerge only after fuzzy, statistical pattern recognition. They land on what Thorsten calls a "paradoxical synthesis": statistical AI winning the race is exactly what now makes rigorous, formally verified symbolic AI possible.

Category Theory Meets Agentic AI | Neil Ghani (Kodamai) Why does almost all agentic AI today run completely untyped — even though 40 years of type theory and category theory research says that's a mistake? Neil Ghani, Co-Founder of Kodamai, Professor of Computer Science at the University of Strathclyde and a world-leading authority in Applied Category Theory, joins Deniz and Thorsten to explain how the same mathematical structures used to reason about data types can bring trustworthiness, scalability, and adaptability to AI agents. The conversation ranges from the origins of container theory to why LLMs are fundamentally untyped, whether category theory is "abstract nonsense," the GOFAI failures of the 1980s, and how formal verification tools like Lean might be the unlikely savior of both mathematics and AI.

Choice vs. Excluded Middle: A Constructive Paradox | aboutlogic: premises #08 Constructive mathematics is all about building things explicitly — so why does it reject the Axiom of Choice, which sounds trivial in a constructive context. In this Premises episode, Thorsten walks Deniz through Diaconescu's theorem: the surprising proof that the Axiom of Choice implies the Law of Excluded Middle, turning a seemingly innocent principle into full-blown classical logic. Using an intuitive type-theoretic explanation (starting with a very relatable glove-matching example), Thorsten builds up to Diaconescu's classic argument, touching on propositional extensionality, the difference between intensional and extensional predicates, and why the Axiom of Choice turns out to be a stronger form of "magic" than Excluded Middle itself.

Can AI prove the Riemann Hypothesis? Tudor Achim, CEO of Harmonic and creator of Aristotle — the first AI to win IMO gold and solve Erdős problems using the Lean theorem prover — joins Deniz and Thorsten to discuss how mathematical superintelligence is transforming research, education, and the very nature of proof.

Fixing Russell’s Paradox: The Birth of ZFC & Constructive Set Theory How did mathematicians fix Russell’s paradox and save set theory? In this aboutlogic: premises episode, Deniz and Thorsten explore the solutions that reshaped the foundations of mathematics. From Zermelo-Fraenkel (ZFC) axioms to constructive set theories (IZF, CZF). Discover how large cardinals, the continuum hypothesis, and the iterative conception of sets became central to modern set theory and why some mathematicians still prefer type theory for its structural and computational advantages. Your support helps us keep these conversations going! If you’d like to contribute, you can buy us a coffee here: https://buymeacoffee.com/aboutlogic Or become a channel member here on Youtube. We’d love to have your support! https://www.youtube.com/@aboutlogic Join the Discussion: Have questions or thoughts to share? Drop a comment below and engage in a discussion with fellow viewers and experts.

Homotopy Type Theory, Narya & the Future of Proof Assistants with Michael Shulman. How does homotopy type theory bridge the gap between abstract mathematics and computational proof systems? Mike Shulman (University of San Diego) joins Deniz and Thorsten to discuss his journey from topology to higher observational type theory, the development of the Narya proof assistant, and how these tools are reshaping the way we think about equality, equivalence, and computation in mathematics.

What Is a Set? A Beginner’s Guide to Set Theory | aboutlogic: premises #06 In this aboutlogic: premises episode, Deniz and Thorsten explore the foundations of set theory. From Cantor’s groundbreaking ideas to Frege’s logical foundations and Russell’s paradox. Discover how sets evolved from simple collections to a rigorous mathematical framework, and why the power set, well-ordering, and the continuum hypothesis remain some of the most fascinating (and controversial) ideas in math.

aboutlogic #18 | What really happened in the 1930s logic revolution? Jan von Plato (University of Helsinki, ERC Grantee) joins Deniz and Thorsten to uncover the hidden collaborations, misunderstandings, and lost manuscripts that shaped modern logic. From Gödel’s unpublished notes to Gentzen’s lost normalization proof and Bernays’ pivotal role in Hilbert’s school, this episode reveals how the history of logic is far richer—and more interconnected—than we often assume.

Dependent Type Theory: A Revolution in Math & Computer Science | aboutlogic: premises #05 What makes dependent type theory so powerful? In this aboutlogic: premises episode, Deniz and Thorsten explore the evolution of type theory. From simple types to Pierre Martin-Löf’s groundbreaking dependent types. Discover how this innovation transformed mathematics and computer science by allowing types to depend on values, enabling more expressive and precise reasoning.

aboutlogic #17 | Why is mathematics so effective in science? José Pérez Escobar (UNED, Madrid) joins Deniz and Thorsten to explore Wittgenstein’s philosophy of applied mathematics, the role of rules vs. structures in math, and how models shape our understanding of reality. From neuroscience to physics, José explains why mathematical models often act as rules of description rather than mere representations of reality and how this perspective resolves Wittgenstein’s "rule-following paradox." The conversation also dives into Turing’s structural view of math, the Dirac delta function controversy, and whether contradictions in mathematics are truly problematic.

Your support helps us keep these conversations going! If you’d like to contribute, you can buy us a coffee here: https://buymeacoffee.com/aboutlogic How do interactive theorem provers like Lean and Agda change the way we teach and do mathematics? In this aboutlogic: premises episode, Deniz and Thorsten discuss the role of proof assistants in education, the differences between Lean and Agda, and how AI is transforming formal verification.

aboutlogic #16 | How is mathematical language structured, and what can linguistics teach us about proofs, ambiguity, and storytelling in math? In this episode, Bernhard Fisseni and Bernhard Schröder (University of Duisburg-Essen) join Deniz and Thorsten to explore the frames, narratives, and pragmatic structures behind mathematical texts.

Inspired by our conversation with Emily Riehl on higher category theory, this aboutlogic: premises episode dives into the synthetic vs. analytic approach in mathematics. Deniz and Thorsten explore how Euclid’s geometry, category theory, and higher categories embody the synthetic approach. Focusing on abstract structures and relationships rather than concrete coordinates or definitions.

aboutlogic #15 | Emily Riehl (Johns Hopkins University) joins us to explore higher category theory, homotopy, and the role of AI in modern mathematics. From the foundations of category theory to the challenges of formalizing math with proof assistants like Lean, Emily shares her insights on synthetic vs. analytic approaches, the beauty of abstraction, and how AI is changing mathematical research.

Your support helps us keep these conversations going! If you’d like to contribute, you can buy us a coffee here: https://buymeacoffee.com/aboutlogic What is set theory—a foundation of math or a science of infinity? In this aboutlogic: premises episode, Deniz and Thorsten explore the history, paradoxes, and philosophical debates behind set theory. From Cantor’s diagonal argument to Hilbert’s Hotel and the role of ZFC, they discuss why set theory became the language of mathematics—and where its limits lie. Join the Discussion: Have questions or thoughts to share? Drop a comment below and engage in a discussion with fellow viewers and experts.

aboutlogic #14 | Turing Award winner Dana Scott joins us to discuss his groundbreaking work on lambda calculus, forcing, and Boolean-valued models and how these ideas revolutionized set theory and computability. From his collaborations with Kleene and Solovay to his thoughts on constructive mathematics, Scott shares insights into the history and future of logical foundations. Hear anecdotes about Gödel’s unpublished ideas, Einstein’s influence, and the telephone conversations that shaped modern logic.

Our weekly Premises: Behind-the-scenes thoughts, deep dives, and the ideas that didn’t fit into the main episodes. Is mathematics a discovery or a story we tell ourselves? In this first aboutlogic: premises episode, Deniz and Thorsten explore why math might be more like fiction than absolute truth and what that means for logic, proof, and the future of the field.