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Led by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson Simulacrum
A course on the hidden mathematics of Alice in Wonderland, led by the man who wrote both the stories and the equations.
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Led by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson Simulacrum
The question
What happens when a group tries to decide who wins without agreeing on what winning means? The Dodo's race — everyone runs in circles, everyone gets a prize — is not chaos. It is a precise model of collective decision without a well-ordering. Dodgson spent years studying this problem in its political form. What did the mathematician see in the race that Alice did not?
Outcome
The student can identify the logical structure of the Caucus-Race, explain the Condorcet paradox, and write an analytical essay connecting the literary scene to the mathematical problem.
Sub-units
Led by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson Simulacrum
The question
"When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean." Is Humpty Dumpty right? In mathematics, definition is stipulation — you say "let x equal 3" and it does. In natural language, meaning arises from shared use, not individual decree. Humpty Dumpty's claim sits exactly on this fault line. Where does the authority to name come from?
Outcome
The student can explain Humpty Dumpty's claim, articulate the difference between stipulative and descriptive definition, and take a position on naming and power.
Sub-units
Led by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson Simulacrum
The question
It is always six o'clock at the Hatter's table. The tea party rotates through seats forever, using the clean cups and leaving the dirty ones behind. This is a cyclic permutation of three elements — a clock with no escapement. The Hatter is not mad because he breaks rules. He is mad because he obeys rules that cannot produce forward motion. What is the difference between circular and wrong?
Outcome
The student can explain cyclic permutation using the tea party, distinguish between circular and invalid reasoning, and connect rule-bound stasis to real-world systems.
Sub-units
Led by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson Simulacrum
The question
The Looking-Glass world is not random — it is this world reflected. Clocks run backwards, you run to stay still, the Jabberwocky poem must be held to a mirror. Carroll structured the entire book as a chess game with Alice advancing from Pawn to Queen. What is preserved under reflection, and what breaks? Is the mirror world the same world or a different one?
Outcome
The student can define symmetry in terms of transformation and invariance, identify inversions in the Looking-Glass world, and argue whether perfect reflection is possible.
Sub-units
Led by Charles Lutwidge Dodgson Simulacrum
The question
Dodgson published two books on logic under his real name: The Game of Logic and Symbolic Logic. He made logic into a literal board game for children. His paper "What the Tortoise Said to Achilles" exposed an infinite regress at the heart of logical inference that has never been resolved. Are the Alice books and the logic books separate works — or the same investigation in two registers?
Outcome
The student can solve a basic syllogism, explain the Tortoise's infinite regress, and write a final essay on the relationship between logic, play, and nonsense across Dodgson's work.
Sub-units