[FOM] A remark of von Neumann

[ignacio]

In "the general and logical theory of automata" Von Neumann writes:

"Everybody who has worked in formal logic will confirm that it is one of the
technically most refractory parts of mathematics. The reason for this is
that it deals with rigid, all-or-none concepts, and has very little contact
with the continuous concept of the real or the complex number, that is, with
mathematical analysis. Yet analysis is the technically most successful and
best elaborated part of mathematics."

Was Von Neumann's development of cellular automata an attempt to unite the
"continuousness" of analysis with the precision of mathematical logic and so
to be able to investigate deeper algorithmic questions?

Was his finitistic axiomatization of set theory an early attempt at this or
just an application of the Hilbert program?

May be someone knowledgeable in Von Neumann's biography can answer this,

Regards,


I. N.    


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