Drilling Down on Cantor's Melancholic Life

AN EMAIL SENT TO MY CLOSEST FRIEND, WITH WHOM I SHARE AN ALMOST DAILY CORRESPONDENCE DESPITE THE FACT THAT WE LIVE ONLY A FEW MILES AWAY FROM ONE ANOTHER. IN THIS EXCERPT, I REPORT TO SEAN, WHO IS THE MOST CREATIVELY AND INTELLECTUALLY GIFTED PERSON I’VE EVER MET, THE RESULT OF ATTEMPTING TO STUDY A TOPIC OF SHARED INTEREST (CANTOR’S SET THEORIES) IN A MANNER THAT RESEMBLES HIS OWN NATURAL APPROACH TO ANY TOPIC. HE CALLS IT: “DRILLING DOWN”, WHICH MEANS THAT HE TAKES ONE TOPIC AND STUDIES ALL ASPECTS AND TRIBUTARIES AND TANGENTS ASSOCIATED WITH IT TO GAIN A DEPTH OF UNDERSTANDING THAT NEVER CEASES TO ASTONISH ME. HIS APPROACH IS THE OPPOSITE OF CONTEMPORARY STUDY IN WHICH FOCUSING ON MORE THAN ONE PARAGRAPH LEADS TO IMPATIENCE AND CLICKING TO ANOTHER WEBPAGE. I ADMIRE HIS APPROACH SO I TRIED IT AND, WELL, LET’S JUST SAY THAT, FOR THIS THING CALLED “SANJAY”, ALL ROADS LEAD TO ROME (<——THAT IS, IF YOU SUBSTITUTE THE WORDS “SEARINGLY EMOTIONALLY PAINFUL HELLFIRE” FOR “ROME”)…

And where has my unpaid, unsolicited, and entirely unawaited drill down into Georg Cantor’s life landed?

Bell’s Theorem

Which I can say with confidence that I descriptively understand (as opposed to mathematically, where I would say that not many, perhaps even not Bell himself, really understand).

And what does Bell’s Theorem imply?

Absolute determinism which, phrased another way, means that all (not just some) of our long-held beliefs about selfhood and control over outcomes are delusional…perhaps necessary delusions but delusional nevertheless.

And where does this landing point leave “Sanjay”?

Right back into the melancholic and paralytic anguish from which he tried to distract himself by drilling down on the life of Georg Cantor.

As you were.