Just watched the Nova production The Great Math mystery.
Worth a watch.
Max.
Worth a watch.
Max.
Well, all languages that I know of are tools. That is they were invented soley to serve a purpose to the inventor.I regard mathematics as the basal language encompassing reality and all images, corollaries, analogues, parallels and 'extensions' thereof... All other modes of communication, observation, appreciation and experience are but a single 'platform' over this elemental truth...
Moreover I aver that mathematics is no more about 'numbers' than, for instance, spoken languages are about 'words' -- Inasmuch as transcendental entities (cip ideas) are not directly palpable by corporeal (i.e. corporeally trapped) beings, we must resort to 'hand holds'...
Do I hear you someone say "this sounds a tad theological"? --- Not at all! Though I'm profoundly proud to be a credit to my profile name!!!
No. I always cringe at the thought of watching shows like that. Too many past experiences with going with high hopes only to find out it's all just bunch of egos and fluff with very little reality involved.Did you watch the program, by the way?
Max.
While 'Language', in the common sense of the word, clearly denotes, as you suggest, an implement and, hence, a construct --- My intent by "basal language" was (perhaps clumsy) designation of the human (or, more generally, the sentient) experience of the existential and the abstract taken as a single/unique entity -- thus, ultimately, mathematics is direct perception of reality (and all corollaries thereof) in its 'rawest' aspect --- Bottom line: truth is neither construct, invention nor even creation -- but, rather, an indivisible primitive... --- Whether Mathematics is truth itself or merely the discipline by which truth may be directly perceived is a matter of semantics...Well, all languages that I know of are tools. That is they were invented soley to serve a purpose to the inventor.
Languages develop employ representations or models to stand in for the reality they represent in the study of the relationships between different components of reality. Yes words. Yes words can be about abstract ideas such as the abstract nouns love and hate; or they can be about real objects such as the concrete noun apple. Much more structure is currently recognised.
It is arguable that the study and developemnt of language led to the creation of something beyond the originators' intentions which could be described as having structure in its own right, distinct from copying or representing reality. Poetry for instance.
Mathematics too, exhibited these features. Originally developed as a tool in the earliest civilisations, modern mathematics also boasts structures in its own right with no pretence to model or represent any form of reality. Some of this is just 'filling in the gaps' for the sake of completeness.
Well we, in the UK, have an election coming up shortly and you in the US not long after.Best regards
HP
I hate watching the 'Holywood' style documentary, but I have always found Nova to be a little cut above the rest, this program did get me thinking in a direction I had not really gone before, so it can't be all bad.No. I always cringe at the thought of watching shows like that. Too many past experiences with going with high hopes only to find out it's all just bunch of egos and fluff with very little reality involved.
I'm with @studiot on this one. Math is just another tool.Well, all languages that I know of are tools. That is they were invented solely to serve a purpose to the inventor.
It could as well be said that only humanity is arrogant enough to claim 'authorship' of reality......Only man is foolish enough to give meaning and reverence to a tool.
Indeed! It seems this discussion is more one of semantics than substance -- A circumstance for which I freely own my (not insignificant) share of 'blame'Well we, in the UK, have an election coming up shortly and you in the US not long after.
Isn't it wonderful to watch the politicians shouting at cross purposes at each other?
But I'd rather not do it here.
Math is just another tool... yes... and so is a brush, and a chisel and a hammer... and yet you can create the Mona Lisa or the Venus de Milo with them ... My opinionated opinion (if there's such a thing ) is that tools not only can create objects of beauty, but that they can also be beautiful themselves.I'm with @studiot on this one. Math is just another tool.
Observe how many people survive without using it at all!
Math has been said to be the language of the universe. Schematics have been said to be the language of electronics. One of my biggest, "fails" was in neglecting to become conversant in the language of music. To me, they are all merely tools.