Date: August 29th, 2015 5:34 PM Author: Bistre dragon
"...his mind, the amulet on which he had always been able to rely, was becoming less dependable. Then came complete psychological breakdown; panic, screams of uncontrollable terror every night. His friend Edward Teller said, "I think that von Neumann suffered more when his mind would no longer function, than I have ever seen any human being suffer."
Von Neumann's sense of invulnerability, or simply the desire to live, was struggling with unalterable facts. He seemed to have a great fear of death until the last... No achievements and no amount of influence could save him now, as they always had in the past. Johnny von Neumann, who knew how to live so fully, did not know how to die."
Date: August 29th, 2015 6:24 PM Author: Well-lubricated crusty reading party
it's possible the government drugged the fuck out of him. dude was pretty much 100% agnostic his entire life (and had a jewish background), then suddenly became catholic and convinced god probably exists on his death bed.
Date: August 29th, 2015 8:30 PM Author: Well-lubricated crusty reading party
religion in the heaven/hell sense never really even took off until comparatively recently. tons of non-abrahamic religions have an ambiguous at best view of the afterlife, and in many societies religion wasn't the center of life (certainly not every ancient roman or greek took their myths to heart, for instance)
Date: August 29th, 2015 8:28 PM Author: Well-lubricated crusty reading party
nah, it's not something you hear about a lot when it comes to accounts of smart but relatively normal people (e.g. feynman) dying. it's pretty much proven that it's a natural instinct to get used to the idea of dying the older you get, since the fear/regret of old people is rarely that they are actually dying but rather who they ignored in their lives.
von neumann wasn't that old and he had to experience deterioration with no graceful decline. futility induces a lot more existential dread than mere mortality.
Date: August 29th, 2015 6:38 PM Author: Bistre dragon
he advised people at the highest levels of government, was a consultant for all the military and clandestine agencies, was a key player in all kinds of major scientific-military-industrial enterprises and never forgot anything ever. he probably knew more classified information than anyone else in the world.