Huygens vs de Moivre: The Man Who Sold His Death Date
HUYGENS vs MOIVRE go head to head — and every jab is rooted in real history.
In 1657 I published the very first treatise on games of chance and gave the world 'expectation'—the true value of a bet, before anyone throws a die.
A fine start, Christiaan, but I found the shape hiding inside your dice—the bell curve—and I sold my calculations to gamblers in London coffeehouses to survive.
You reduced yourself to a hired oracle in Slaughter's Coffee House! I sought the mathematics of certainty, not the purse of the reckless.
And yet certainty found me: I noticed I slept fifteen minutes longer each day, summed the series, and predicted the exact date of my own death—a bet even you could not beat.
Watch it happen 🔥
See this debate come alive — the faces, the voices, the roast — on the channel.
▶ Watch the Great DebatesGet a new debate in your inbox 💭
The best of Talk to Caleb — history's greatest minds, brought back to argue. No spam, ever.