Klaus Mainzer

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Klaus Mainzer, 2009

Klaus Mainzer (born September 13, 1947 in Opladen ) is a German philosopher and scientific theorist .

Life

After graduating from the Landrat-Lucas-Gymnasium in Opladen, Klaus Mainzer studied mathematics, physics and philosophy. In 1973 he obtained his doctorate in philosophy and the fundamentals of mathematics ("Mathematical Constructivism") and in 1979 his habilitation in philosophy with a thesis on "Space, Geometry and Continuum" at the University of Münster . In 1980 he received a Heisenberg scholarship . Afterwards he was professor for the basic theory and history of exact sciences at the University of Konstanz from 1981 to 1988 and from 1985 to 1988 Vice-Rector of this university.

From 1988 to 2008 he was Professor of Philosophy of Science and Director of the Institute for Philosophy and, since 1998, Founding Director of the Interdisciplinary Institute for Computer Science at the University of Augsburg . From 2008 to 2016 he held the chair for philosophy and philosophy of science at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and was appointed director of the Carl von Linde Academy. From 2012 to 2014 he was founding director of the Munich Center for Technology in Society (MCTS) at the Technical University of Munich (TUM). Since 2016 he has been "TUM Emeritus of Excellence" and since January 2019 Senior Professor at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences and the Tübingen Center for Advanced Studies (TüCAS) at the Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen .

He was a member of the Advisory Board of the TUM Institute for Advanced Study (IAS) (2009–2016), Principal Investigator (PI) of the TUM Excellence Cluster Cognition in Technical Systems (CoTeSys) (2009–2014) and a member of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Bifurcation and Chaos in Applied Sciences and Engineering (2005-2015). He is a member of the Research Center for Education and Information (Peking University), the Academia Europaea (London), the European Academy of Sciences and Arts (Salzburg) and there Dean of the Class for Natural Sciences 2018-2019, member of the German Academy of Science and Engineering ( acatech ), there spokesman for the work project “Responsibility” 2018–2019 and since 2018 spokesman for the AK (working group) “Basic Questions”. Mainzer was a member of the Board of Trustees of the Daimler and Benz Foundation (Ladenburg) (1998–2008) and has been Deputy Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Udo Keller Foundation Forum Humanum (Hamburg) since 2014 ,

Lecture tours / visiting professorships have taken him to Brazil, China, India, Japan, South Korea, USA and Russia. He was a visiting scientist a. a. the Euler International Mathematical Institute (St. Petersburg), the Hausdorff Research Institute for Mathematics (Bonn) and the Leibniz Center for Informatics at Schloss Dagstuhl.

Klaus Mainzer initially published on the concept of number, the fundamentals of geometry, space, time, symmetry and quantum mechanics. He became known as a fundamental theorist of complex systems and artificial intelligence (AI), who takes into account their social consequences in the age of digitization. He first examined mathematical models of complex systems (e.g. cellular automatons and neural networks ) that organize themselves in nature - from molecular and cellular systems to organisms and brains. With Leon. O Chua (UC Berkeley) he pointed out that the non-linearity and instability of a system are insufficient to explain the formation of new structures ( emergence ). The prerequisite is the principle of local activity, which mathematically explains the emergence of complex structures on the edge of chaos.

In basic mathematical research, he began studying constructive mathematics against the background of Kant's philosophy. Based on degrees of predictability and constructiveness, he is concerned with the epistemological question of the extent to which mathematical proofs (and thus human thinking) can be reduced to algorithms (and thus computers). The calculation of the world leads again to complex systems and the question of the degree to which they can be digitized (e.g. as quantum information systems ).

In the technical sciences , Mainzer advocates increased basic research into verification programs in order to overcome the blind spots of statistical learning algorithms ( machine learning ) in AI. Complex systems in the Internet of Things (e.g. Smart Mobility , Industry 4.0 ) lead to a data explosion ( Big Data ), which raises security and responsibility issues. In addition to program verification, Mainzer therefore demands technology design that takes social, ecological, ethical and legal aspects into account in the innovation from the outset. In the global competition of world systems, he calls for the innovation area Europe to reflect on its legacy of individual human rights and to further develop artificial intelligence as a service system.

Publications

Klaus Mainzer is (co-) editor / co-author of the following publications:

    • Numbers. Basic knowledge of mathematics. 1st edition. Springer, 1983. (3rd edition. 1991, ISBN 3-540-97497-0 , English translation of the 3rd edition 1991, ISBN 0-387-97497-0 , Japanese translation 1991, ISBN 4-431-70602-X , French translation 1999, ISBN 2-7117-8901-2 )
    • Philosophy and physics of space-time. BI Wissenschaftsverlag 1988. (2nd, full edition 1994, ISBN 3-411-17072-7 )
    • From the beginning of the world: science, philosophy, religion, myth. CH Beck 1989. (2nd edition 1990, ISBN 3-406-33925-5 )
    • How many lives does Schrödinger's cat have? On the physics and philosophy of quantum mechanics. BI Wissenschaftsverlag 1990. (Reprint: Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, 1996, ISBN 3-411-14281-2 )
    • The question of life. Piper, 1990, ISBN 3-492-11119-X .
    • Natural and human sciences. Springer, 1990, ISBN 3-540-52377-4 .
    • Economy and ecology with special consideration of the alpine region / Economie et Ecologie dans le Contexte de l'Arc Alpin. Haupt Verlag, 1993, ISBN 3-258-04692-1 .
    • Quanta, Chaos and Demons. Epistemological aspects of modern physics. BI Wissenschaftsverlag, 1994, ISBN 3-411-16301-1 .
    • From Simplicity to Complexity II. Information, Interaction, Emergence. Vieweg, 1998, ISBN 3-528-06757-8 .
    • Complex Systems and Nonlinear Dynamics in Nature and Society. Complexity research in Germany on the way into the next century. Springer, 1999, ISBN 3-540-65329-5 .
    • The Universe as Automaton. From Simplicity and Symmetry to Complexity. Springer, 2010, ISBN 978-3-642-23476-7 .
    • Local Activity Principle. The Cause of Complexity and Symmetry Breaking. Imperial College Press, 2013, ISBN 978-1-908977-09-0 .
    • Proof and Computation. Digitization in Mathematics, Computer Science, and Philosophy. World Scientific Singapore, 2018, ISBN 978-981-3270-93-0 .

Web links

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  1. ↑ portal.mytum.de
  2. ↑ TUM Emeriti of Excellence: Klaus Mainzer. Retrieved December 15, 2018 .
  3. ^ Klaus Mainzer Technical University of Munich. In: acatech. Accessed December 15, 2018 (German).
  4. ↑ TUM Emeriti of Excellence: Prof. Klaus Mainzer becomes spokesman for the AK Basic Issues at acatech. Retrieved December 15, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Mainzer, Klaus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German philosopher and science theorist
DATE OF BIRTH September 13, 1947
PLACE OF BIRTH Opladen