Division by Zero

[[DivisionByZero|《除以零》 / Division by Zero]] is one of the [[TedChiang|Ted Chiang / 江峰南]] stories discussed after [[StoryOfYourLife|《你一生的故事》]] in 104.你一生的故事：终点已经注定，还要出发吗？. The episode summarizes it through mathematician Laura, who encounters a coherent formal route to a contradiction such as 1 equaling 2.

The source reads the story as a mathematical version of Rational Worldview Collapse. Laura’s crisis is not just professional failure; mathematics had been the world where truth felt most secure. Her husband Carl’s inability to share the same collapse makes the story also about love and communication under incompatible worldviews.

Connections

• [[TedChiang|Ted Chiang / 江峰南]] - author.
• Pure Rationality Trap and Rational Worldview Collapse - concepts extended by the story.
• [[StoryOfYourLife|《你一生的故事》 / Story of Your Life]] - paired in the episode as another story about rational people crossing the edge of ordinary reason.
• Rational Humility - adjacent wiki discipline around treating certainty as fragile.