CHAPTER IX

Mumon and Gdel

What Is Zen?

I'M NOT SURE I know what Zen is. In a way, I think I understand it very well; but in a
way, I also think I can never understand it at all. Ever since my freshman English teacher
in college read Joshu's MU out loud to our class, I have struggled with Zen aspects of
life, and probably I will never cease doing so. To me, Zen is intellectual quicksand-
anarchy, darkness, meaninglessness, chaos. It is tantalizing and infuriating. And yet it is
humorous, refreshing, enticing. Zen has its own special kind of meaning, brightness, and
clarity. I hope that in this Chapter, I can get some of this cluster of reactions across to
you. And then, strange though it may seem, that will lead us directly to Godelian matters.
One of the basic tenets of Zen Buddhism is that there is no way to characterize
what Zen is. No matter what verbal space you try to enclose Zen in, it resists, and spills
over. It might seem, then, that all efforts to explain Zen are complete wastes of time. But
that is not the attitude of Zen masters and students. For instance, Zen koans are a central
part of Zen study, verbal though they are. Koans are supposed to be "triggers" which,
though they do not contain enough information in themselves to impart enlightenment,
may possibly be sufficient to unlock the mechanisms inside one's mind that lead to
enlightenment. But in general, the Zen attitude is that words and truth are incompatible,
or at least that no words can capture truth.

Zen Master Mumon

Possibly in order to point this out in an extreme way, the monk Mumon ("No-gate"), in
the thirteenth century, compiled forty-eight koans, following each with a commentary
and a small "poem". This work is called "The Gateless Gate" or the Mumonkan ("No-
gate barrier"). It is interesting to note that the lives of Mumon and Fibonacci coincided
almost exactly: Mumon living from 1183 to 1260 in China, Fibonacci from 1180 to 1250
in Italy. To those who would look to the Mumonkan in hopes of making sense of, or
"understanding", the koans, the Mumonkan may come as a rude shock, for the comments
and poems are entirely as opaque as the koans which they are supposed to clarify. Take
this, for example:' -

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FIGURE 46. Three Worlds by M. C. Escher (lithograph, 1955)

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Koan:

Hogen of Seiryo monastery was about to lecture before dinner when he noticed that the bamboo screen,
lowered for meditation, had not been rolled up. He pointed to it. Two monks arose wordlessly from the
audience and rolled it up. Hogen, observing the physical moment, said, "The state of the first monk is good,
not that of the second."

Mumon's Commentary:

I want to ask you: which of those two monks gained and which lost? If any of you has one eye, he will see
the failure on the teacher's part. However, I am not discussing gain and loss.

Mumon's Poem:

When the screen is rolled up the great sky opens,

Yet the sky is not attuned to Zen.
It is best to forget the great sky
And to retire from every wind.

Or then again, there is this one:2

Koan:

Goso said: "When a buffalo goes out of his enclosure to the edge of the abyss, his horns and his
head and his hoofs all pass through, but why can't the tail also pass?"

Mumon's Commentary:

If anyone can open one eye at this point and say a word of Zen, he is qualified to repay
the four gratifications, and, not only that, he can save all sentient beings under him. But if
he cannot say such a word of Zen, he should turn back to his tail.

Mumon's Poem:

If the buffalo runs, he will fall into the trench;

If he returns, he will be butchered.
That little tail
Is a very strange thing.

I think you will have to admit that Mumon does not exactly clear everything up. One
might say that the metalanguage (in which Mumon writes) is not very different from the
object language (the language of the koan). According to some, Mumon's comments are
intentionally idiotic, perhaps meant to show how useless it is to spend one's time in
chattering about Zen. How ever, Mumon's comments can be taken on more than one
level. For instance, consider this :3

Koan:
A monk asked Nansen: "Is there a teaching no master ever taught before?"
Nansen said: "Yes, there is."
"What is it?" asked the monk.
Nansen replied: "It is not mind, it is not Buddha, it is not things."

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FIGURE 47. Dewdrop, by M. C. Escher (mezzotint, 1948).

Mumon's Commentary:

Old Nansen gave away his treasure-words. He must have been greatly upset

Mumon's Poem:

Nansen was too kind and lost his treasure.
Truly, words have no power.
Even though the mountain becomes the sea,
Words cannot open another's mind.

In this poem Mumon seems to be saying something very central to Zen, not making
idiotic statements. Curiously, however, the poem is referential, and thus it is a comment
not only on Nansens words, but on its own ineffectiveness. This type of paradox is quite
characteristic of Zen. It is an attempt to "break the mind of logic". You see this paradox
quality in the koan, as well. Concerning Mumon's commentary, do think that Nansen was
really so sure of his answer? Or did the "correctness of his answer matter at all? Or does
correctness play any role in Zen? is the difference between correctness and truth, or is
there any? What if Nansen had said, "No, there is not any such teaching"? Would it have
r any difference? Would his remark have been immortalized in a koan?

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FIGURE 48. Another World, by M. C. Escher (wood-engraving, 1947).

Here is another koan which aims to break the mind of logic:'

The student Doko came to a Zen master, and said: "I am seeking the truth. In what state
of mind should I train myself, so as to find it?"
Said the master, "There is no mind, so you cannot put it in any state. There is no
truth, so you cannot train yourself for it."
"If there is no mind to train, and no truth_ to find, why do you have these monks
gather before you every day to study- Zen and train themselves for this study?"
"But I haven't an inch of room here," said the master, "so how could the monks
gather? I have no tongue, so how could I call them together or teach them?"

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"Oh, how can you lie like this?" asked Doko.

"But if I have no tongue to talk to others, how can I lie to you?" asked the master.
Then Doko said sadly, "I cannot follow you. I cannot understand you
"I cannot understand myself," said the master.

If any koan serves to bewilder, this one does. And most likely, can bewilderment is its
precise purpose, for when one is in a bewildered s one's mind does begin to operate
nonlogically, to some extent. Only by stepping outside of logic, so the theory goes, can
one make the lea enlightenment. But what is so bad about logic? Why does it prevent the
to enlightenment?

Zen's Struggle Against Dualism

To answer that, one needs to understand something about what enlightenment is. Perhaps
the most concise summary of enlightenment w be: transcending dualism. Now what is
dualism? Dualism is the conceptual division of the world into categories. Is it possible to
transcend this natural tendency? By prefixing the word "division" by the word
"conceptual", I may have made it seem that this is an intellectual or cons effort, and
perhaps thereby given the impression that dualism could overcome simply by suppressing
thought (as if to suppress thinking act were simple!). But the breaking of the world into
categories takes plat below the upper strata of thought; in fact, dualism is just as a
perceptual division of the world into categories as it is a conceptual division In other
words, human perception is by nature a dualistic phenomenon which makes the quest for
enlightenment an uphill struggle, to say the least.
At the core of dualism, according to Zen, are words just plain w The use of words
is inherently dualistic, since each word represents, obviously, a conceptual category.
Therefore, a major part of Zen is the against reliance on words. To combat the use of
words, one of the devices is the koan, where words are so deeply abused that one's mi
practically left reeling, if one takes the koans seriously. Therefore perhaps wrong to say
that the enemy of enlightenment is logic; rather dualistic, verbal thinking. In fact, it is
even more basic than that: perception. As soon as you perceive an object, you draw a line
between it and the rest of the world; you divide the world, artificially, into parts you
thereby miss the Way.

Here is a koan which demonstrates the struggle against words:
Koan:

Shuzan held out his short staff and said: "If you call this a short staff, you oppose its
reality. If you do not call it a short staff, you ignore the fact. N, what do you wish to call
this?"

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FIGURE 49. Day and Night, by M. C. Escher (woodcut, 1938).

Mumon's Commentary:

If you call this a short staff, you oppose its reality. If you do not call it a short staff, you
ignore the fact. It cannot be expressed with words and it cannot be expressed without
words. Now say quickly what it is.

Mumon's Poem:
.
Holding out the short staff,
He gave an order of life or death.
Positive and negative interwoven,
Even Buddhas and patriarchs cannot escape this attack.

("Patriarchs" refers to six venerated founders of Zen Buddhism, of whom Bodhidharma is
the first, and Eno is the sixth.)
Why is calling it a short staff opposing its reality? Probably because such a
categorization gives the appearance of capturing reality, whereas the surface has not even
been scratched by such a statement. It could be compared to saying "5 is a prime
number". There is so much more-an infinity of facts-that has been omitted. On the other
hand, not to call it a staff is, indeed, to ignore that particular fact, minuscule as it may be.
Thus words lead to some truth-some falsehood, perhaps, as well-but certainly not to all
truth. Relying on words to lead you to the truth is like relying on an incomplete formal
system to lead you to the truth. A formal system will give you some truths, but as we
shall soon see, a formal system-no matter how powerful-cannot lead to all truths. The
dilemma of mathematicians is: what else is there to rely on, but formal systems? And the
dilemma of
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Zen people is, what else is there to rely on, but words? Mumon states t dilemma very
clearly: "It cannot be expressed with words and it cannot
expressed without words."

Here is Nansen, once again:'

Joshu asked the teacher Nansen, "What is the true Way?"
Nansen answered, "Everyday way is the true Way.' Joshu asked, "Can I study it?"
Nansen answered, "The more you study, the further from the Way." Joshu asked, "If I
don't study it, how can I know it?"
Nansen answered, "The Way does not belong to things seen: nor to thing: unseen. It
does not belong to things known: nor to things unknown. Do not seek it, study it, or
name it. To find yourself on it, open yourself wide as the sky." [See Fig. 50.]

FIGURE 50. Rind, by M. C. Escher (wood-engraving, 1955).

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This curious statement seems to abound with paradox. It is a little reminiscent of

this surefire cure for hiccups: "Run around the house three times without thinking of the
word `wolf'." Zen is a philosophy which seems to have embraced the notion that the road
to ultimate truth, like the only surefire cure for hiccups, may bristle with paradoxes.

Ism, The Un-Mode, and Unmon

If words are bad, and thinking is bad, what is good? Of course, to ask this is already
horribly dualistic, but we are making no pretense of being faithful to Zen in discussing
Zen-so we can try to answer the question seriously. I have a name for what Zen strives
for: ism. Ism is an antiphilosophy, a way of being without thinking. The masters of ism
are rocks, trees, clams; but it is the fate of higher animal species to have to strive for ism,
without ever being able to attain it fully. Still, one is occasionally granted glimpses of
ism. Perhaps the following koan offers such a glimpse :7

Hyakujo wished to send a monk to open a new monastery. He told his pupils that
whoever answered a question most ably would be appointed. Placing a water vase on
the ground, he asked: "Who can say what this is without calling its name?"
The chief monk said: "No one can call it a wooden shoe."
Isan, the cooking monk, tipped over the vase with his foot and went out. Hyakujo
smiled and said: "The chief monk loses." And Isan became the
master of the new monastery.

To suppress perception, to suppress logical, verbal, dualistic thinking-this is the essence
of Zen, the essence of ism. This is the Unmode-not Intelligent, not Mechanical, just "Un".
Joshu was in the Unmode, and that is why his 'MU' unasks the question. The Un-mode
came naturally to Zen Master Unmon:8

One day Unmon said to his disciples, "This staff of mine has transformed itself into a
dragon and has swallowed up the universe! Oh, where are the rivers and mountains
and the great earth?"

Zen is holism, carried to its logical extreme. If holism claims that things can only be
understood as wholes, not as sums of their parts, Zen goes one further, in maintaining that
the world cannot be broken into parts at all. To divide the world into parts is to be
deluded, and to miss enlightenment.

A master was asked the question, "What is the Way?" by a curious monk. "
It is right before your eyes," said the master. "Why do I not see it for myself?"
"Because you are thinking of yourself."
"What about you: do you see it?"
"So long as you see double, saying `I don't', and `you do', and so on, your
eyes are clouded," said the master.
"When there is neither 'I' nor 'You', can one see it?"
"When there is neither `I' nor `You', who is the one that wants to see it?"9

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Apparently the master wants to get across the idea that an enlighte state is one
where the borderlines between the self and the rest of universe are dissolved. This would
truly be the end of dualism, for a says, there is no system left which has any desire for
perception. But what is that state, if not death? How can a live human being dissolve the
borderlines between himself and the outside world?

Zen and Tumbolia

The Zen monk Bassui wrote a letter to one of his disciples who was about to die, and in it
he said: "Your end which is endless is as a snowflake dissolving in the pure air." The
snowflake, which was once very much a discernible subsystem of the universe, now
dissolves into the larger system which 4 held it. Though it is no longer present as a
distinct subsystem, its essence somehow still present, and will remain so. It floats in
Tumbolia, along hiccups that are not being hiccupped and characters in stories that are
being read . . . That is how I understand Bassui's message.
Zen recognizes its own limitations, just as mathematicians have lea: to recognize
the limitations of the axiomatic method as a method attaining truth. This does not mean
that Zen has an answer to what beyond Zen any more than mathematicians have a clear
understanding the forms of valid reasoning which lie outside of formalization. One o1
clearest Zen statements about the borderlines of Zen is given in the fol ing strange koan,
very much in the spirit of Nansen:10

Tozan said to his monks, "You monks should know there is an even high
understanding in Buddhism." A monk stepped forward and asked, "What the higher
Buddhism?" Tozan answered, "It is not Buddha."

There is always further to go; enlightenment is not the end-all of And there is no recipe
which tells how to transcend Zen; the only thing can rely on for sure is that Buddha is not
the way. Zen is a system cannot be its own metasystem; there is always something
outside of which cannot be fully understood or described within Zen.

Escher and Zen

In questioning perception and posing absurd answerless riddles, Zen company, in the
person of M. C. Escher. Consider Day and Night (Fig. 4 masterpiece of "positive and
negative interwoven" (in the words of Mumoni). One might ask, "Are those really birds,
or are they really field it really night, or day?" Yet we all know there is no point to such
questions The picture, like a Zen koan, is trying to break the mind of logic. Es4 also
delights in setting up contradictory pictures, such as Another World

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FIGURE 51. Puddle, by M. C. Escher (woodcut, 1952).

(Fig. 48)-pictures that play with reality and unreality the same way as Zen plays with
reality and unreality. Should one take Escher seriously? Should one take Zen seriously?
There is a delicate, haiku-like study of reflections in Dewdrop (Fig. 47); and then
there are two tranquil images of the moon reflected in still waters: Puddle (Fig. 51), and
Rippled Surface (Fig. 52). The reflected moon is a theme which recurs in various koans.
Here is an example:'

Chiyono studied Zen for many years under Bukko of Engaku. Still, she could not
attain the fruits of meditation. At last one moonlit night she was carrying water in an
old wooden pail girded with bamboo. The bamboo broke, and the bottom fell out of
the pail. At that moment, she was set free. Chiyono said, "No more water in the pail,
no more moon in the water."

Three Worlds: an Escher picture (Fig. 46), and the subject of a Zen koan:12

A monk asked Ganto, "When the three worlds threaten me, what shall I do?" Ganto
answered, "Sit down." "I do not understand," said the monk. Canto said, "Pick up the
mountain and bring it to me. Then I will tell you."

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Hemiolia and Escher

In Verbum (Fig. 149), oppositions are made into unities on several I Going around we see
gradual transitions from black birds to white birds to black fish to white fish to black
frogs to white frogs to black birds ... six steps, back where we started! Is this a
reconciliation of the dichotomy of black and white? Or of the trichotomy of birds, fish,
and frogs? Or sixfold unity made from the opposition of the evenness of 2 an oddness of
3? In music, six notes of equal time value create a rhythmic ambiguity-are they 2 groups
of 3, or 3 groups of 2? This ambiguity has a name: hemiolia. Chopin was a master of
hemiolia: see his Waltz op. his Etude op. 25, no. 2. In Bach, there is the Tempo di
Menuetto from the keyboard Partita no. 5, or the incredible Finale of the first Sonata
unaccompanied violin, in G Minor.
As one glides inward toward the center of Verbum, the distinctions gradually blur,
so that in the end there remains not three, not two, but one single essence: "VERBUM",
which glows with brilliancy-perhaps a symbol of enlightenment. Ironically, ` verbum"
not only is a word, but "word"-not exactly the most compatible notion with Zen. On the
hand, "verbum" is the only word in the picture. And Zen master 1 once said, "The
complete Tripitaka can be expressed in one character ("Tripitaka", meaning "three
baskets", refers to the complete texts c original Buddhist writings.) What kind of
decoding-mechanism, I wonder would it take to suck the three baskets out of one
character? Perhaps one with two hemispheres.


FIGURE 52. Rippled Surface, by M. C. Escher (lino-cut, 1950).

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FIGURE 53. Three Spheres II, by M. C. Escher (lithograph, 1946),

Indra's Net

Finally, consider Three Spheres II (Fig. 53), in which every part of the world seems to
contain, and be contained in, every other part: the writing table reflects the spheres on top
of it, the spheres reflect each other, as well as the writing table, the drawing of them, and
the artist drawing it. The endless connections which all things have to each other is only
hinted at here, yet the hint is enough. The Buddhist allegory of "Indra's Net" tells of an
endless net of threads throughout the universe, the horizontal threads running through
space, the vertical ones through time. At every crossing of threads is an individual, and
every individual is a crystal bead. The great light of "Absolute Being" illuminates and
penetrates every crystal bead; moreover, every crystal bead reflects not only the light
from every other crystal in the net-but also every reflection of every reflection throughout
the universe.
To my mind, this brings forth an image of renormalized particles: in every
electron, there are virtual photons, positrons, neutrinos, muons ... ; in every photon, there
are virtual electrons, protons, neutrons, pions ... ; in every pion, there are ...
But then another image rises: that of people, each one reflected in the minds of
many others, who in turn are mirrored in yet others, and so on.
Both of these images could be represented in a concise, elegant way by using
Augmented Transition Networks. In the case of particles, there would be one network for
each category of particle; in the case of people,

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one for each person. Each one would contain calls to many others, t creating a virtual
cloud of ATN's around each ATN. Calling one we create calls on others, and this process
might cascade arbitrarily far, un~ bottomed out.

Mumon on MU

Let us conclude this brief excursion into Zen by returning to Mumon. H is his comment
on Joshu's MU:13

To realize Zen one has to pass through the barrier of the patriarchs. Enlightenment
always comes after the road of thinking is blocked. If you do nc pass the barrier of the
patriarchs or if your thinking road is not blocked whatever you think, whatever you
do, is like a tangling ghost. You may ask "What is a barrier of a patriarch?" This one
word, 'MU', is it.
This is the barrier of Zen. If you pass through it, you will see Joshu face t face.
Then you can work hand in hand with the whole line of patriarchs. I this not a pleasant
thing to do?
If you want to pass this barrier, you must work through every bone in you body,
through every pore of your skin, filled with this question: "What `MU'?" and carry it
day and night. Do not believe it is the common negative symbol meaning nothing. It is
not nothingness, the opposite of existence. I you really want to pass this barrier, you
should feel like drinking a hot iro ball that you can neither swallow nor spit out.
Then your previous lesser knowledge disappears. As a fruit ripening i season,
your subjectivity and objectivity naturally become one. It is like dumb man who has
had a dream. He knows about it but he cannot tell i
When he enters this condition his ego-shell is crushed and he can shake th heaven
and move the earth. He is like a great warrior with a sharp sword. If Buddha stands in
his way, he will cut him down; if a patriarch offers him an obstacle, he will kill him;
and he will be free in his way of birth and death. H can enter any world as if it were
his own playground. I will tell you how to d this with this koan:
Just concentrate your whole energy into this MU, and do not allow an
discontinuation. When you enter this MU and there is no discontinuation -- your
attainment will be as a candle burning and illuminating the who] universe.

From Mumon to the MU-puzzle

From the ethereal heights of Joshu's MU, we now descend to the private lowlinesses of
Hofstadter's MU . . . I know that you have already concentrated your whole energy into
this MU (when you read Chapter 1). So n wish to answer the question which was posed
there:

Has MU theorem-nature, or not?

The answer to this question is not an evasive MU; rather, it is a resounding NO. In order
to show this, we will take advantage of dualistic, logical thinking.

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We made two crucial observations in Chapter I:

(1) that the MU-puzzle has depth largely because it involves the interplay of
lengthening and shortening rules;

(2) that hope nevertheless exists for cracking the problem by employing a tool which
is in some sense of adequate depth to handle matters of that complexity: the
theory of numbers.

We did not analyze the MU-puzzle in those terms very carefully in Chapter I; we shall do
so now. And we will see how the second observation (when generalized beyond the
insignificant MIU-system) is one of the most fruitful realizations of all mathematics, and
how it changed mathematicians' view of their own discipline.
For your ease of reference, here is a recapitulation of the MIU-system:

SYMBOLS: M, I, U

Axiom: MI

RULES:

I. If xl is a theorem, so is xIU.
II. If Mx is a theorem, so is Mxx.
III. In any theorem, III can be replaced by U.
IV. UU can be dropped from any theorem.

Mumon Shows Us How to Solve the MU-puzzle

According to the observations above, then, the MU-puzzle is merely a puzzle about
natural numbers in typographical disguise. If we could only find a way to transfer it to the
domain of number theory, we might be able to solve it. Let us ponder the words of
Mumon, who said, "If any of you has one eye, he will see the failure on the teacher's
part." But why should it matter to have one eye?
If you try counting the number of l's contained in theorems, you will soon notice
that it seems never to be 0. In other words, it seems that no matter how much lengthening
and shortening is involved, we can never work in such a way that all I's are eliminated.
Let us call the number of I's in any string the I-count of that string. Note that the I-count
of the axiom MI is 1. We can do more than show that the I-count can't be 0-we can show
that the I-count can never be any multiple of 3.
To begin with, notice that rules I and IV leave the I-count totally undisturbed.
Therefore we need only think about rules II and III. As far as rule III is concerned, it
diminishes the I-count by exactly 3. After an application of this rule, the I-count of the
output might conceivably be a multiple of 3-but only if the I-count of the input was also.
Rule III, in short, never creates a multiple of 3 from scratch. It can only create one when
it began with one. The same holds for rule II, which doubles the

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I-count. The reason is that if 3 divides 2n, then-because 3 does not dig 2-it must divide n
(a simple fact from the theory of numbers). Neither rule II nor rule III can create a
multiple of 3 from scratch.
But this is the key to the MU-puzzle! Here is what we know:

(1) The I-count begins at 1 (not a multiple of 3);

(2) Two of the rules do not affect the I-count at all; (3)

(3) The two remaining rules which do affect the I-count do so in such a way as never
to create a multiple of 3 unless given one initially.

The conclusion-and a typically hereditary one it is, too-is that I-count can never become
any multiple of 3. In particular, 0 is a forbid value of the I-count. Hence, MU is not a
theorem of the MIU-system.
Notice that, even as a puzzle about I-counts, this problem was plagued by the
crossfire of lengthening and shortening rules. Zero became the goal; I-counts could
increase (rule II), could decrease (rule III). 1 we analyzed the situation, we might have
thought that, with enough switching back and forth between the rules, we might
eventually hit 0. IS thanks to a simple number-theoretical argument, we know that the
impossible.

Gdel-Numbering the MIU-System

Not all problems of the the type which the MU-puzzle symbolizes at easy to solve as this
one. But we have seen that at least one such pr could be embedded within, and solved
within, number theory. We are going to see that there is a way to embed all problems
about any for system, in number theory. This can happen thanks to the discovery Gdel,
of a special kind of isomorphism. To illustrate it, I will use MIU-system.

We begin by considering the notation of the MIU-system. We map each symbol onto a
new symbol:

M <= => 3
I <= => 1
U <= => 0

The correspondence was chosen arbitrarily; the only rhyme or reason is that each symbol
looks a little like the one it is mapped onto. I number is called the Gdel number of the
corresponding letter. Now I sure you can guess what the Gdel number of a multiletter
string will be:

MU <= => 30
MIIU <= => 3110
Etc.

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It is easy. Clearly this mapping between notations is an information preserving

transformation; it is like playing the same melody on two different instruments.

Let us now take a look at a typical derivation in the MIU-system, written
simultaneously in both notations:

(1)
MI

axiom 31
(2)
MII
rule 2 311
(3)
MIIII
rule 2 31111
(4)
MUI
rule 3 301
(5)
MUIU
rule 1 3010
(6)
MUIUUIU rule 2 3010010
(7)
MUIIU
rule 4 30110

The left-hand column is obtained by applying our four familiar typographical rules. The
right-hand column, too, could be thought of as having been generated by a similar set of
typographical rules. Yet the right-hand column has a dual nature. Let me explain what
this means.

Seeing Things Both Typographically and Arithmetically

We could say of the fifth string ('3010') that it was made from the fourth, by appending a
`0' on the right; on the other hand we could equally well view the transition as caused by
an arithmetical operation-multiplication by 10, to be exact. When natural numbers are
written in the decimal system, multiplication by 10 and putting a `0' on the right are
indistinguishable operations. We can take advantage of this to write an arithmetical rule
which corresponds to typographical rule I:

ARITHMETICAL RULE la: A number whose decimal expansion ends on the right in `1'
can be multiplied by 10.

We can eliminate the reference to the symbols in the decimal expansion by arithmetically
describing the rightmost digit:

ARITHMETICAL RULE Ib: A number whose remainder when divided by 10 is 1, can
be multiplied by 10.

Now we could have stuck with a purely typographical rule, such as the following one:

TYPOGRAPHICAL RULE I: From any theorem whose rightmost symbol is ' 1' a new
theorem can be made, by appending `0' to the right of that 1'.
They would have the same effect. This is why the right-hand column has a "dual nature":
it can be viewed either as a series of typographical opera-

Mumon and Gdel

270


tions changing one pattern of symbols into another, or as a series arithmetical operations
changing one magnitude into another. But the are powerful reasons for being more
interested in the arithmetical version Stepping out of one purely typographical system
into another isomorphic typographical system is not a very exciting thing to do; whereas
stepping clear out of the typographical domain into an isomorphic part of number theory
has some kind of unexplored potential. It is as if somebody h known musical scores all
his life, but purely visually-and then, all o: sudden, someone introduced him to the
mapping between sounds a musical scores. What a rich, new world! Then again, it is as if
somebody h been familiar with string figures all his life, but purely as string figur devoid
of meaning-and then, all of a sudden, someone introduced him the mapping between
stories and strings. What a revelation! The discovery of Gdel-numbering has been
likened to the discovery, by Descartes, of t isomorphism between curves in a plane and
equations in two variables; incredibly simple, once you see it-and opening onto a vast
new world
Before we jump to conclusions, though, perhaps you would like to a more
complete rendering of this higher level of the isomorphism. It i very good exercise. The
idea is to give an arithmetical rule whose action is indistinguishable from that of each
typographical rule of the MIU-system:

A solution is given below. In the rules, m and k are arbitrary natural numbers, and n is
any natural number which is less than 10m

RULE 1: If we have made 10m + 1, then we can make 10 x (10m + 1)
Example: Going from line 4 to line 5. Here, m = 30.

RULE 2: If we have made 3 x 10" + n, then we can make 10' X X (3 x 10"'+n)+n.
Example: Going from line 1 to line 2, where both m and n equal 1.

RULE 3: If we have made k x 10 "`+ 111 x 10'+n, then we can make k x 10"+` + n.
Example: Going from line 3 to line 4. Here, m and n are 1, and k is 3.

RULE 4: If we have made k x 10rn+z + n, k x 10" +n. then we can make k x 10m + n
Example: Going from line 6 to line 7. Here, m = 2, n = 10, and k = 301.

Let us not forget our axiom! Without it we can go nowhere. Therefore, let us postulate
that:

We can make 31.

Now the right-hand column can be seen as a full-fledged arithmetic process, in a new
arithmetical system which we might call the 310-system

Mumon and Gdel

271

I
(1)
31

given
(2)
311
rule 2 (m=1, n=1)
(3)
31111
rule 2 (m=2, n=11)
(4)
301
rule 3 (m=1, n=1, k=3)
(5)
3010
rule 1 (m=30)
(6)
3010010
rule 2 (m=3, n=10)
(7)
30110
rule 4 (m=2, n=10, k=301)

Notice once again that the lengthening and shortening rules are ever with us in this "310-
system"; they have merely been transposed into the domain of numbers, so that the Godel
numbers go up and down. If you look carefully at what is going on, you will discover that
the rules are based on nothing more profound than the idea that shifting digits to left and
right in decimal representations of integers is related to multiplications and divisions by
powers of 10. This simple observation finds its generalization in the following

CENTRAL PROPOSITION: If there is a typographical rule which tells how
certain digits are to be shifted, changed, dropped, or inserted in any number
represented decimally, then this rule can be represented equally well by an
arithmetical counterpart which involves arithmetical operations with powers of 10
as well as additions, subtractions, and so forth.

More briefly:

Typographical rules for manipulating numerals are actually arithmetical rules for
operating on numbers.

This simple observation is at the heart of Gdels method, and it will have an absolutely
shattering effect. It tells us that once we have a Gdel numbering for any formal system,
we can straightaway form a set of arithmetical rules which complete the Gdel
isomorphism. The upshot is that we can transfer the study of any formal system-in fact
the study of all formal systems-into number theory.

MIU-Producible Numbers

Just as any set of typographical rules generates a set of theorems, a corresponding set of
natural numbers will be generated by repeated applications of arithmetical rules. These
producible numbers play the same role inside number theory as theorems do inside any
formal system. Of course, different numbers will be producible, depending on which
rules are adopted. "Producible numbers" are only producible relative to a system of
arithmetical rules. For example, such numbers as 31, 3010010, 3111, and so forth could
be called MIU-producible numbers-an ungainly name, which might be shortened to
MIU-numbers, symbolizing the fact that those numbers are the ones that result when you
transcribe the MIU-system into number theory, via Gdel-numbering. If we were to
Gdel-number the pq-system

Mumon and Gdel

272

and then "arithmetize" its rules, we could call the producible numbers "pq-numbers"-and
so on.
Note that the producible numbers (in any given system) are defined by a recursive
method: given numbers which are known to be producible, we have rules telling how to
make more producible numbers. Thus, the class of numbers known to be producible is
constantly extending itself, in much the same way that the list of Fibonacci numbers, or
Q-numbers, does. The set of producible numbers of any system is a recursively
enumerable set. What about its complement-the set of nonproducible numbers? Is that set
always recursively enumerable? Do numbers which are nonproducible share some
common arithmetical feature?
This is the sort of issue which arises when you transpose the study of formal
systems into number theory. For each system which is arithmetized, one can ask, "Can
we characterize producible numbers in a simple way?" "Can we characterize
nonproducible numbers in a recursively enumerable way?" These are difficult questions
of number theory. Depending on the system which has been arithmetized, such questions
might prove too hard for us to resolve. But if there is any hope for solving such problems,
it would have to reside in the usual kind of step-by-step reasoning as it applies to natural
numbers. And that, of course, was put in its quintessential form in the previous Chapter.
TNT seemed, to all appearances, to have captured all valid mathematical thinking
processes in one single, compact system.

Answering Questions about Producible Numbers

by Consulting TNT

Could it be, therefore, that the means with which to answer any question about any
formal system lies within just a single formal system-TNT? It seems plausible. Take, for
instance, this question:

Is MU a theorem of the MIU-system?

Finding the answer is equivalent to determining whether 30 is a MIU number or not.
Because it is a statement of number theory, we should expect that, with some hard work,
we could figure out how to translate the sentence "30 is a MIU-number" into TNT-
notation, in somewhat the same way as we figured out how to translate other number-
theoretical sentences into TNT-notation. I should immediately caution the reader that
such a translation, though it does exist, is immensely complex. If you recall, I pointed out
in Chapter VIII that even such a simple arithmetical predicate as "b is a power of 10" is
very tricky to code into TNT-notation-and the predicate "b is a MIU-number" is a lot
more complicated than that! Still, it can be found; and the numeral
SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSO can be substituted for every b. This will
result in a MONstrous string of TNT, a string of TNT which speaks about the MU-
puzzle. Let us therefore call that string "MUMON". Through MUMON and strings like
it, TNT is now capable of speaking "in code" about the MIU-system.

Mumon and Gdel

273

The Dual Nature of MUMON

In order to gain some benefit from this peculiar transformation of the original question,
we would have to seek the answer to a new question:

Is MUMON a theorem of TNT?

All we have done is replace one relatively short string (MU) by another (the monstrous
MUMON), and a simple formal system (the MIU-system) by a complicated one (TNT).
It isn't likely that the answer will be any more forthcoming even though the question has
been reshaped. In fact, TNT has a full complement of both lengthening and shortening
rules, and the reformulation of the question is likely to be far harder than the original.
One might even say that looking at MU via MUMON is an intentionally idiotic way of
doing things. However, MUMON can be looked at on more than one level.
In fact, this is an intriguing point: MUMON has two different passive meanings.
Firstly, it has the one which was given before:

30 is a MIU-number.

But secondly, we know that this statement is tied (via isomorphism) to the statement

MU is a theorem of the MIU-system.

So we can legitimately quote this latter as the second passive meaning of MUMON. It
may seem very strange because, after all, MUMON contains nothing but plus signs,
parentheses, and so forth-symbols of TNT. How can it possibly express any statement
with other than arithmetical content?
The fact is, it can. Just as a single musical line may serve as both harmony and
melody in a single piece; just as "BACH" may be interpreted as both a name and a
melody; just as a single sentence may be an accurate structural description of a picture by
Escher, of a section of DNA, of a piece by Bach, and of the dialogue in which the
sentence is embedded, so MUMON can be taken in (at least) two entirely different ways.
This state of affairs comes about because of two facts:

Fact 1. Statements such as "MU is a theorem" can be coded into number theory
via Gdels isomorphism.

Fact 2. Statements of number theory can be translated into TNT.

It could be said that MUMON is, by Fact 1, a coded message, where the symbols of the
code are, by Fact 2, just symbols of TNT.

Mumon and Gdel

274

Codes and Implicit Meaning

Now it could be objected here that a coded message, unlike an uncod message, does not
express anything on its own-it requires knowledge the code. But in reality there is no
such thing as an uncoded message. There are only messages written in more familiar
codes, and message written in less familiar codes. If the meaning of a message is to be
revealed it must be pulled out of the code by some sort of mechanism, or isomorphism. It
may be difficult to discover the method by which the decoding should be done; but once
that method has been discovered, the message becomes transparent as water. When a
code is familiar enough, it ceases appearing like a code; one forgets that there is a
decoding mechanism. The message is identified with its meaning.
Here we have a case where the identification of message and meant is so strong
that it is hard for us to conceive of an alternate meaning: residing in the same symbols.
Namely, we are so prejudiced by the symbols of TNT towards seeing number-theoretical
meaning (and only numb( theoretical meaning) in strings of TNT, that to conceive of
certain string of TNT as statements about the MIU-system is quite difficult. But Gdels
isomorphism compels us to recognize this second level of meaning certain strings of
TNT.

Decoded in the more familiar way, MUMON bears the message:

30 is a MIU-number.

This is a statement of number theory, gotten by interpreting each sign the conventional
way.
But in discovering Gdel-numbering and the whole isomorphism bu upon it, we
have in a sense broken a code in which messages about the MIU-system are written in
strings of TNT. Gdels isomorphism is a n( information-revealer, just as the
decipherments of ancient scripts we information-revealers. Decoded by this new and less
familiar mechanism MUMON bears the message

MU is a theorem of the MIU-system.

The moral of the story is one we have heard before: that meaning is ; automatic by-
product of our recognition of any isomorphism; therefore there are at least two passive
meanings of MUMON-maybe more!

The Boomerang: Gdel-Numbering TNT

Of course things do not stop here. We have only begun realizing the: potential of Gdels
isomorphism. The natural trick would be to turn TNT's capability of mirroring other
formal systems back on itself, as the Tortoise turned the Crab's phonographs against
themselves, and as his Goblet G turned against itself, in destroying itself. In order to do
this, we

Mumon and Gdel

275

will have to Gdel-number TNT itself, just as we did the MIU-system, and then
"arithmetize" its rules of inference. The Gdel-numbering is easy to do. For instance, we
could make the following correspondence:

Symbol...

Codon

Mnemonic Justification

.....
.....
....
....
....
....

....
....
....
....

.....
.....
.....
.....
.....
.....
.....

666
123
111
112
236
362
323
212
213
312
313
262
163
161
616
633
223
333
626
636

Number of the Beast for the Mysterious Zero

successorship: 1, 2, 3,
visual resemblance, turned sideways
1+1=2
2x3=6
ends in 2
*
ends in 3
*
ends in 2
* these three pairs
ends in 3
* form a pattern
ends in 2
*
ends in 3
*
opposite to V (626)
163 is prime
is a "graph" of the sequence 1-6-1
' is a "graph" of the sequence 6-1-6
` 6 "implies" 3 and 3, in some sense .
. 2 + 2 is not 3
`' looks like `3'
opposite to a; also a "graph" of 6-2-6
two dots, two sixes

punc. .....

611

special number, as on Bell system (411, 911)

0
S
=
+
.
(
)
<
>
[
]

....



~

V
.:

Each symbol of TNT is matched up with a triplet composed of the digits 1, 2, 3,

and 6, in a manner chosen for mnemonic value. I shall call each such triplet of digits a
Gdel codon, or codon for short. Notice that I have given no codon for b, c, d, or e; we
are using austere TNT. There is a hidden motivation for this, which you will find out
about in Chapter XVI. I will explain the bottom entry, "punctuation", in Chapter XIV.
Now we can rewrite any string or rule of TNT in the new garb. Here, for instance,
is Axiom 1 in the two notations, the old below the new:

626,262,636,223,123,262,111,666
V a
: ~ S a = 0

Conveniently, the standard convention of putting in a comma every third digit happens to
coincide with our colons, setting them off for "easy" legibility.

Here is the Rule of Detachment, in the new notation:

RULE: If x and 212x6331213 are both theorems, then 1 is a theorem. Finally, here is an
entire derivation taken from last Chapter, given in austere TNT and also transcribed into
the new notation:
Mumon and Gdel

276

626,262,636,626262,163,636,362262,112,123,262,163,323,111,123,362,262,112,262,163,323 axiom:
V : : V ' : ( + 5 ' ) = S ( + ' )
626,262.163,636,362,123,666,112,123,262,163,323,111,123,362,123,666,112,262,163,32 specification
V ' : ( S 0 + S ) = S ( S 0 + )
362,123,666,112,123,666,323,1 11,123,362,123,666,112,666,323


specification
( S 0 + 5 0 ) = S ( S 0 + 0 )
626,262,636,362 262,112,666, 3 23,111,262




axiom
V : ( + 0 ) =
362,123,666,112,666,323,111,123,666





specification
( S 0 + 0 ) = S 0
123,362,123,666,112,666,323,11 1,123,123,666




insert '12;
S ( S 0 + 0 ) = S S 0
362,123,666,112,123,666,323,111,123,123,666




transitivity
( S 0 + 5 0 ) = S S 0

Notice that I changed the name of the "Add S" rule to "Insert `123' ", since that is the
typographical operation which it now legitimizes.
This new notation has a pretty strange feel to it. You lose all sense o meaning; but
if you had been brought up on it, you could read strings it this notation as easily as you do
TNT. You would be able to look and, at glance, distinguish well-formed formulas from
ill-formed ones. Naturally since it is so visual, you would think of this as a typographical
operation but at the same time, picking out well-formed formulas in this notation i
picking out a special class of integers, which have an arithmetical definition too.
Now what about "arithmetizing" all the rules of inference? As matter stand, they
are all still typographical rules. But wait! According to the Central Proposition, a
typographical rule is really equivalent to al arithmetical rule. Inserting and moving digits
in decimally represented numbers is an arithmetical operation, which can be carried out
typographically. Just as appending a 'O' on the end is exactly the same as multiplying b,
10, so each rule is a condensed way of describing a messy arithmetical operation.
Therefore, in a sense, we do not even need to look for equivalent arithmetical rules,
because all of the rules are already arithmetical!

TNT-Numbers: A Recursively Enumerable Set of Numbers

Looked at this way, the preceding derivation of the theorem
"362,123,666,112,123,666,323,111,123,123,666" is a sequence of high] convoluted
number-theoretical transformations, each of which acts on one or more input numbers,
and yields an output number, which is, as before, called a producible number, or, to be
more specific, a TNT-number. Some the arithmetical rules take an old TNT-number and
increase it in a particular way, to yield a new TNT-number; some take an old TNT-
number a and decrease it; other rules take two TNT-numbers, operate on each of them
some odd way, and then combine the results into a new TNT-number
and so on and so forth. And instead of starting with just one know: 'TNT-number, we
have five initial TNT-numbers-one for each (austere axiom, of course. Arithmetized TNT
is actually extremely similar to the

Mumon and Gdel

277

arithmetized MIU-system, only there are more rules and axioms, and to write out
arithmetical equivalents explicitly would be a big bother-and quite unenlightening,
incidentally. If you followed how it was done for the MIU-system, there ought to be no
doubt on your part that it is quite analogous here.
There is a new number-theoretical predicate brought into being by this
"Godelization" of TNT: the predicate

is a TNT-number.

For
example,
we
know
from
the
preceding
derivation
that
362,123,666,112,123,666,323,111,123,123,666 is a TNT-number, while on the other
hand, presumably 123,666,111,666 is not a TNT-number.
Now it occurs to us that this new number-theoretical! predicate is expressible by
some string of TNT with one free variable, say a. We could put a tilde in front, and that
string would express the complementary notion

is not a TNT-number.

Now if we replaced all the occurrences of a in this second string by the TNT-numeral for
123,666,111,666-a numeral which would contain exactly 123,666,111,666 S's, much too
long to write out-we would have a TNT-string which, just like MUMON, is capable of
being interpreted on two levels. In the first place, that string would say

123,666,111,666 is not a TNT-number.

But because of the isomorphism which links TNT-numbers to theorems of TNT, there
would be a second-level meaning of this string, which is:

S0=0 is not a theorem of TNT.

TNT Tries to Swallow Itself

This unexpected double-entendre demonstrates that TNT contains strings which talk
about other strings of TNT. In other words, the metalanguage in which we, on the
outside, can speak about TNT, is at least partially imitated inside TNT itself. And this is
not an accidental feature of TNT; it happens because the architecture of any formal
system can be mirrored inside N (number theory). It is just as inevitable a feature of TNT
as are the vibrations induced in a record player when it plays a record. It seems as if
vibrations should come from the outside world-for instance, from jumping children or
bouncing balls; but a side effect of producing sounds-and an unavoidable one-is that they
wrap around and shake the very mechanism which produces them. It is no accident; it is a
side effect which cannot be helped. It is in the nature of record players. And it is in the
nature of any formalization of number theory that its metalanguage is embedded within it.

Mumon and Gdel

278

We can dignify this observation by calling it the Central Dogma of MIathematical

Logic, and depicting it in a two-step diagram:

TNT => N => meta-'TNT

In words: a string of TNT has an interpretation in N; and a statement o may have a
second meaning as a statement about TNT.

G: A String Which Talks about Itself in Code

This much is intriguing yet it is only half the story. The rest of the st involves an
intensification of the self-reference. We are now at the st where the Tortoise was when he
realized that a record could be m; which would make the phonograph playing it break-but
now the quest is: "Given a record player, how do you actually figure out what to put the
record?" That is a tricky matter.
We want to find a string of TNT-which we'll call 'G'-which is ab itself, in the
sense that one of its passive meanings is a sentence about G. particular the passive
meaning will turn out to be

"G is not a theorem of TNT."

I should quickly add that G also has a passive meaning which is a statement of number
theory; just like MUMON it is susceptible to being construed in least) two different
ways. The important thing is that each passive mean is valid and useful and doesn't cast
doubt on the other passive meaning in any way. (The fact that a phonograph playing a
record can induce vibrations in itself and in the record does not diminish in any way the
fact t those vibrations are musical sounds!)

G's Existence Is What Causes TNT's Incompleteness

The ingenious method of creating G, and some important concepts relating to TNT, will
be developed in Chapters XIII and XIV; for now it is interesting to glance ahead, a bit
superficially, at the consequences finding a self-referential piece of TNT. Who knows? It
might blow up! In a sense it does. We focus down on the obvious question:

Is G a theorem of TNT, or not?

Let us be sure to form our own opinion on this matter, rather than rely G's opinion about
itself. After all, G may not understand itself any be than a Zen master understands
himself. Like MUMON, G may express a falsity. Like MU, G may be a nontheorem. We
don't need to believe every possible string of TNT-only its theorems. Now let us use our
power of reasoning to clarify the issue as best we can at this point.
We will make our usual assumption: that TNT incorporates valid

Mumon and Gdel

279

methods of reasoning, and therefore that TNT never has falsities for theorems. In other
words, anything which is a theorem of TNT expresses a truth. So if G were a theorem, it
would express a truth, namely: "G is not a theorem". The full force of its self-reference
hits us. By being a theorem, G would have to be a falsity. Relying on our assumption that
TNT never has falsities for theorems, we'd be forced to conclude that G is not a theorem.
This is all right; it leaves us, however, with a lesser problem. Knowing that G is not a
theorem, we'd have to concede that G expresses a truth. Here is a situation in which TNT
doesn't live up to our expectations-we have found a string which expresses a true
statement yet the string is not a theorem. And in our amazement, we shouldn't lose track
of the fact that G has an arithmetical interpretation, too-which allows us to summarize
our findings this way:

A string of TNT has been found; it expresses, unambiguously, a statement about
certain arithmetical properties of natural numbers; moreover, by reasoning outside
the system we can determine not only that the statement is a true one, but also that
the string fails to be a theorem of TNT. And thus, if we ask TNT whether the
statement is true, TNT says neither yes nor no.

Is the Tortoise's string in the Mu Offering the analogue of G? Not quite. The
analogue of the Tortoise's string is ~G. Why is this so? Well, let us think a moment about
what -G says. It must say the opposite of what G says. G says, "G is not a theorem of
TNT", so ~G must say "G is a theorem". We could rephrase both G and ~G this way:

G: "I am not a theorem (of TNT)."
~G: "My negation is a theorem (of TNT)."

It is ~G which is parallel to the Tortoise's string, for that string spoke not about itself, but
about the string which the Tortoise first proffered to Achilles -- which had an extra knot
on it (or one too few, however you want to look at it).

Mumon Has the Last Word

Mumon penetrated into the Mystery of the Undecidable anyone, in his concise poem on
Joshu's MU:

Has a dog Buddha-nature?
This is the most serious question of all.
If you say yes or no,
You lose your own Buddha-nature.

Mumon and Gdel

280

Prelude . .

Achilles and the Tortoise have come to the residence of their friend the Crab, to
make the acquaintance of one of his friends, the Anteater. The introductions
having been made, the four of them settle down to tea.

Tortoise We have brought along a little something for you, Mr. Crab. Crab: That's most
kind of you. But you shouldn't have.
Tortoise: Just a token of our esteem. Achilles, would you like to give it to Mr. C?
Achilles: Surely. Best wishes, Mr. Crab. I hope you enjoy it.

(Achilles hands the Crab an elegantly wrapped present, square and very thin. The
Crab begins unwrapping it.)

Anteater: I wonder what it could be.
Crab: We'll soon find out. (Completes the unwrapping, and pulls out the gif)t Two
records! How exciting! But there's no label. Uh-oh-is this another of your "specials",
Mr. T?
Tortoise: If you mean a phonograph-breaker, not this time. But it is in fact a custom-
recorded item, the only one of its kind in the entire world. In fact, it's never even been
heard before-except, of course, when Bach played it.
Crab: When Bach played it? What do you mean, exactly?
Achilles: Oh, you are going to be fabulously excited, Mr. Crab, when Mr. T tells you
what these records in fact are.
Tortoise: Oh, you go ahead and tell him, Achilles.
Achilles: May I? Oh, boy! I'd better consult my notes, then. (Pulls out a small filing card,
and clears his voice.) Ahem. Would you be interested in hearing about the remarkable
new result in mathematics, to which your records owe their existence?
Crab: My records derive from some piece of mathematics? How curious Well, now that
you've provoked my interest, I must hear about it.
Achilles: Very well, then. (Pauses for a moment to sip his tea, then resumes) Have you
heard of Fermat's infamous "Last Theorem"?
Anteater: I'm not sure ... It sounds strangely familiar, and yet I can't qui place it.
Achilles: It's a very simple idea. Pierre de Fermat, a lawyer by vocation b mathematician
by avocation, had been reading in his copy of the class text Arithmetica by
Diophantus, and came across a page containing the equation

a2+b2=c2

Prelude

281

FIGURE 54. Mobius Strip II, by M. C. Escher (woodcut, 1963).

Prelude

282

He immediately realized that this equation has infinitely many solutions a, b, c, and then
wrote in the margin the following notorious comment:
The equation

an +bn=cn

has solutions in positive integers a, b, c, and n only when n = 2 (an then there are
infinitely many triplets a, b, c which satisfy the equation); but there are no
solutions for n > 2. I have discovered a truly marvelous proof of this statement,
which, unfortunately, this margin is too small to contain.

Ever since that day, some three hundred years ago, mathematicians have been vainly
trying to do one of two things: either to I Fermat's claim, and thereby vindicate
Fermat's reputation, whit though very high, has been somewhat tarnished by skeptics
who he never really found the proof he claimed to have found-or e: refute the claim,
by finding a counterexample: a set of four integers a, b, c, and n, with n > 2, which
satisfy the equation. Until recently, every attempt in either direction had met with
failure. 1 sure, the Theorem has been proven for many specific values of i particular,
all n up to 125,000.
Anteater: Shouldn't it be called a "Conjecture" rather than a "Theorem it's never been
given a proper proof?
Achilles: Strictly speaking, you're right, but tradition has kept it this i
Crab: Has someone at last managed to resolve this celebrated quest Achilles: Indeed! In
fact, Mr. Tortoise has done so, and as usual, by a wizardly stroke. He has not only
found a PROOF of Fermat's Theorem (thus justifying its name as well as vindicating
Fermat; also a COUNTEREXAMPLE, thus showing that the skeptics had good
intuition!
Crab: Oh my gracious! That is a revolutionary discovery.
Anteater: But please don't leave us in suspense. What magical integer they, that satisfy
Fermat's equation? I'm especially curious about the value of n.
Achilles: Oh, horrors! I'm most embarrassed! Can you believe this? the values at home on
a truly colossal piece of paper. Unfortunately was too huge to bring along. I wish I
had them here to show to y( it's of any help to you, I do remember one thing-the value
of n only positive integer which does not occur anywhere in the continued fraction for

Crab: Oh, what a shame that you don't have them here. But there reason to doubt what
you have told us.

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283

 FIGURE 55. Pierre de Fermat.

Anteater: Anyway, who needs to see n written out decimally? Achilles has just told us
how to find it. Well, Mr. T, please accept my hearty felicitations, on the occasion of
your epoch-making discovery!
Tortoise: Thank you. But what I feel is more important than the result itself is the
practical use to which my result immediately led.
Crab: I am dying to hear about it, since I always thought number theory was the Queen of
Mathematics -- the purest branch of mathematic -- the one branch of mathematics
which has No applications!
Tortoise: You're not the only one with that belief, but in fact it is quite impossible to
make a blanket statement about when or how some branch-or even some individual
Theorem-of pure mathematics will have important repercussions outside of
mathematics. It is quite unpredictable-and this case is a perfect example of that
phenomenon.
Achilles: Mr. Tortoise's double-barreled result has created a breakthrough in the field of
acoustico-retrieval!
Anteater: What is acoustico-retrieval?
Achilles: The name tells it all: it is the retrieval of acoustic information from extremely
complex sources. A typical task of acoustico-retrieval is to reconstruct the sound
which a rock made on plummeting into a lake from the ripples which spread out over
the lake's surface.
Crab: Why, that sounds next to impossible!
Achilles: Not so. It is actually quite similar to what one's brain does, when it reconstructs
the sound made in the vocal cords of another person from the vibrations transmitted
by the eardrum to the fibers in the cochlea.
Crab: I see. But I still don't see where number theory enters the picture, or what this all
has to do with my new records.

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284

Achilles: Well, in the mathematics of acoustico-retrieval, there arise rr questions which

have to do with the number of solutions of cer Diophantine equations. Now Mr. T has
been for years trying to fit way of reconstructing the sounds of Bach playing his
harpsichord, which took place over two hundred years ago, from calculations in% ing
the motions of all the molecules in the atmosphere at the pre time.
Anteater: Surely that is impossible! They are irretrievably gone, g forever!
Achilles: Thus think the nave ... But Mr. T has devoted many year this problem, and
came to the realization that the whole thing hinged on the number of solutions to the
equation

an +bn=cn

in positive integers, with n > 2.
Tortoise: I could explain, of course, just how this equation arises, but Im sure it would
bore you.
Achilles: It turned out that acoustico-retrieval theory predicts that Bach sounds can be
retrieved from the motion of all the molecule the atmosphere, provided that EITHER
there exists at least one solution to the equation
Crab: Amazing!
Anteater: Fantastic!
Tortoise: Who would have thought!
Achilles: I was about to say, "provided that there exists EITHER such a solution OR a
proof that there are tic) solutions!" And therefore, Mr. T, in careful fashion, set about
working at both ends of the problem, simultaneously. As it turns out, the discovery of
the counterexample was the key ingredient to finding the proof, so the one led directly
to the other.
Crab: How could that be?
Tortoise: Well, you see, I had shown that the structural layout of any pr of Fermat's Last
Theorem-if one existed-could be described by elegant formula, which, it so happened,
depended on the values ( solution to a certain equation. When I found this second
equation my surprise it turned out to be the Fermat equation. An amusing accidental
relationship between form and content. So when I found the counterexample, all I
needed to do was to use those numbers blueprint for constructing my proof that there
were no solutions to equation. Remarkably simple, when you think about it. I can't
imagine why no one had ever found the result before.
Achilles: As a result of this unanticipatedly rich mathematical success, Mr. T was able to
carry out the acoustico-retrieval which he had long dreamed of. And Mr. Crab's
present here represents a palpable realization of all this abstract work.

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285

Crab: Don't tell me it's a recording of Bach playing his own works for harpsichord!
Achilles: I'm sorry, but I have to, for that is indeed just what it is! This is a set of two
records of Johann Sebastian Bach playing all of his Well Tempered Clavier. Each
record contains one of the two volumes of the Well-Tempered Clavier; that is to say,
each record contains 24 preludes and fugues-one in each major and minor key.
Crab: Well, we must absolutely put one of these priceless records on, immediately! And
how can I ever thank the two of you?
Tortoise: You have already thanked us plentifully, with this delicious tea which you have
prepared.

(The Crab slides one of the records out of its jacket, and puts it on. The sound of
an incredibly masterful harpsichordist fills the room, in the highest imaginable
fidelity. One even hears-or is it one's imagination?-the soft sounds of Bach singing
to himself as he plays ...)

Crab: Would any of you like to follow along in the score? I happen to have a unique
edition of the Well-Tempered Clavier, specially illuminated by a teacher of mine who
happens also to be an unusually fine calligrapher. Tortoise: I would very much enjoy
that.

(The Crab goes to his elegant glass-enclosed wooden bookcase, opens the doors, and
draws out two large volumes.)

Crab: Here you are, Mr. Tortoise. I've never really gotten to know all the beautiful
illustrations in this edition. Perhaps your gift will provide the needed impetus for me
to do so.
Tortoise: I do hope so.
Anteater: Have you ever noticed how in these pieces the prelude always sets the mood
perfectly for the following fugue?
Crab: Yes. Although it may be hard to put it into words, there is always some subtle
relation between the two. Even if the prelude and fugue do not have a common
melodic subject, there is nevertheless always some intangible abstract quality which
underlies both of them, binding them together very strongly.
Tortoise: And there is something very dramatic about the few moments of silent suspense
hanging between prelude and fugue-that moment where the the theme of the fugue is
about to ring out, in single tones, and then to join with itself in ever-increasingly
complex levels of weird, exquisite harmony.
Achilles: I know just what you mean. There are so many preludes and fugues which I
haven't yet gotten to know, and for me that fleeting interlude of silence is very
exciting; it's a time when I try to second-guess old Bach. For example, I always
wonder what the fugue's tempo will be: allegro, or adagio? Will it be in 6/8, or 4/4?
Will it have three voices, or five-or four? And then, the first voice starts ... Such an
exquisite moment.

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286

Crab: Ah, yes, well do I remember those long-gone days of my youth, days when I
thrilled to each new prelude and fugue, filled with excitement of their novelty and
beauty and the many unexpected' surprises which they conceal.
Achilles: And now? Is that thrill all gone?
Crab: It's been supplanted by familiarity, as thrills always will be. But that familiarity
there is also a kind of depth, which has its own compensations. For instance, I find
that there are always new surprises whit hadn't noticed before.
Achilles: Occurrences of the theme which you had overlooked?
Crab: Perhaps-especially when it is inverted and hidden among several other voices, or
where it seems to come rushing up from the dept out of nowhere. But there are also
amazing modulations which ii marvelous to listen to over and over again, and wonder
how old B2 dreamt them up.
Achilles: I am very glad to hear that there is something to look forward after I have been
through the first flush of infatuation with the Well Tempered Clavier-although it also
makes me sad that this stage cot not last forever and ever.
Crab: Oh, you needn't fear that your infatuation will totally die. One the nice things about
that sort of youthful thrill is that it can always resuscitated, just when you thought it
was finally dead. It just takes the right kind of triggering from the outside.
Achilles: Oh, really? Such as what?
Crab: Such as hearing it through the ears, so to speak, of someone whom it is a totally
new experience-someone such as you, Achilles. Somehow the excitement transmits
itself, and I can feel thrilled again.
Achilles: That is intriguing. The thrill has remained dormant somewhere inside you, but
by yourself, you aren't able to fish it up out of your subconscious.
Crab: Exactly. The potential of reliving the thrill is "coded", in sot unknown way, in the
structure of my brain, but I don't have the power to summon it up at will; I have to
wait for chance circumstance trigger it.
Achilles: I have a question about fugues which I feel a little embarrass about asking, but
as I am just a novice at fugue-listening, I was wondering if perhaps one of you
seasoned fugue-listeners might help me learning .. .
Tortoise: I'd certainly like to offer my own meager knowledge, if it might prove of' some
assistance.
Achilles: Oh, thank you. Let me come at the question from an angle. Are you familiar
with the print called Cube with Magic Ribbons, by M. Escher?
Tortoise: In which there are circular bands having bubble-like distortions which, as soon
as you've decided that they are bumps, seem to turn it dents-and vice versa?

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287

FIGURE 56. Cube with Magic Ribbons, by M. C. Escher (lithograph, 1957).

Achilles: Exactly.
Crab: I remember that picture. Those little bubbles always seem to flip back and forth
between being concave and convex, depending on the direction that you approach
them from. There's no way to see them simultaneously as concave AND convex-
somehow one's brain doesn't allow that. There are two mutually exclusive "modes" in
which one can perceive the bubbles.
Achilles: Just so. Well, I seem to have discovered two somewhat analogous modes in
which I can listen to a fugue. The modes are these: either to follow one individual
voice at a time, or to listen to the total effect of all of them together, without trying to
disentangle one from another. I have tried out both of these modes, and, much to my
frustration, each one of them shuts out the other. It's simply not in my power to follow
the paths of individual voices and at the same time to hear the whole effect. I find that
I flip back and forth between one mode and the other, more or less spontaneously and
involuntarily.

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288

Anteater: Just as when you look at the magic bands, eh?

Achilles: Yes. I was just wondering ... does my description of they modes of fugue-
listening brand me unmistakably as a naive, inexperienced listener, who couldn't even
begin to grasp the deeper mo, perception which exist beyond his ken?
Tortoise: No, not at all, Achilles. I can only speak for myself, but I to myself shifting
back and forth from one mode to the other without exerting any conscious control
over which mode should he dominant don't know if our other companions here have
also experience( thing similar.
Crab: Most definitely. It's quite a tantalizing phenomenon, since you feel that the essence
of the fugue is flitting about you, and you can't grasp all of it, because you can't quite
make yourself function ways at once.
Anteater: Fugues have that interesting property, that each of their voices is a piece of
music in itself; and thus a fugue might be thought o collection of several distinct
pieces of music, all based on one theme, and all played simultaneously. And it is up to
the listener subconscious) to decide whether it should be perceived as a unit, c
collection of independent parts, all of which harmonize.
Achilles: You say that the parts are "independent", yet that can't be literally true. There
has to be some coordination between them, otherwise when they were put together
one would just have an unsystematic clashing of tones-and that is as far from the truth
as could b,
Anteater: A better way to state it might be this: if you listened to each on its own, you
would find that it seemed to make sense all by its could stand alone, and that is the
sense in which I meant that it is independent. But you are quite right in pointing out
that each of individually meaningful lines fuses with the others in a highly nonrandom
way, to make a graceful totality. The art of writing a beautiful fugue lies precisely in
this ability, to manufacture several diff lines, each one of which gives the illusion of
having been written I own beauty, and yet which when taken together form a whole, ,
does not feel forced in any way. Now, this dichotomy between he a fugue as a whole,
and hearing its component voices, is a part: example of a very general dichotomy,
which applies to many kit structures built up from lower levels.
Achilles: Oh, really? You mean that my two "modes" may have some general type of
applicability, in situations other than fugue-listening?
Anteater: Absolutely.
Achilles: I wonder how that could be. I guess it has to do with alternating between
perceiving something as a whole, and perceiving it as a collection of parts. But the
only place I have ever run into that dichotomy is in listening to fugues.
Tortoise: Oh, my, look at this! I just turned the page while following the music, and came
across this magnificent illustration facing the page of the fugue.

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289

Crab: I have never seen that illustration before. Why don't you pass it 'round?

(The Tortoise passes the book around. Each of the foursome looks at it in a
characteristic way-this one from afar, that one from close up, everyone tipping his
head this way and that in puzzlement. Finally it has made the rounds, and returns
to the Tortoise, who peers at it rather intently.)

Achilles: Well, I guess the prelude is just about over. I wonder if, as I listen to this fugue,
I will gain any more insight into the question, "What is the right way to listen to a
fugue: as a whole, or as the sum of its parts?"
TTortoise: Listen carefully, and you will!

(The prelude ends. There is a moment of silence; and ...

[ATTACCA]

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290