Recently, I returned to the tower's observation deck, welcoming the chance to experience the breathtaking view once again. For my son Eric, it was a great thrill, especially sitting on a glass floor suspended above the retractable, clamshell roof of the SkyDome 1,300 feet below. I couldn't quite bring myself to step onto the glass. At the same time, I couldn't help wondering at the tremendous engineering effort that had gone into constructing the tower and ensuring that it remained stable and safe, year after year. Of course, not all engineering efforts are equally successful.
Bridges can collapse, planes crash, and software fail.
There are limits to what can be calculated and foretold. And there are often unintended consequences. I have always been fascinated by the limits of human knowledge. From physical theory and experiment, we can derive laws and constants to describe the world in which we live. Mathematical logic furnishes clear answers to precisely defined questions.