I mean: ultimately the aestetic pleasure of Math derives from the natural impulse to search for efficient algoritms useful for deduction
2013/3/25 Alberto G. Corona <agocor...@gmail.com> > I don´t know what Math is. > > If math is all that is free from contradictions and can be expressed using > the language of mathematics, then any description at any level can be math. > For example the set of positions and speeds of the particles of a piece of > dirt. > > That description has nothing pure to stare at... > > I suspect that there must be more in the description to be intuitively > called mathematic: short descriptions with general properties applicable > to a wide set of different phenomena, whether the descriptions are in some > mathematical formalism or not. I think that the concept of math can be > subsumed in this last, slightly wider, definition. > > That definition is directly related with kolmogorov complexity and > Solomonof inductive inference. ultimately the aestetic pleasure of Math > derives from the natural impulse to search for efficient algoritms useful > for induction, something that a living being do all the time at some basic > levels with prefixed algorithms, and humans do at the rational level with > their models. > > I suspect that the pleasure that these short descriptions widely > applicable inspire in the one that aprehend them derives directly from > their value as tools to find regularities in the world so that it becomes > more predictable. > > > > > 2013/3/24 Craig Weinberg <whatsons...@gmail.com> > >> “The things that fascinate me the most about mathematics are logical >> thought and the great importance attached to the correctness of >> propositions. Every step made during calculations is conclusive and >> mathematicians don’t like to make false statements. This is the reason why >> people from this particular domain contemplate longer before they respond >> to questions. Recently I read a sentence in a book which summarizes all >> this fascinating stuff to me succinctly: ‘Mathematics is the purest form of >> thought.’” — >> >> Barbara Meier (via dauphinexvx <http://dauphinexvx.tumblr.com/>) >> >> This is an interesting observation, and I don’t disagree that mathematics >> is the purest form of thought, but what is thought? While we are at it, >> what is a form? >> >> In the first case, I have proposed that thought is meta-feeling. It is a >> kind of trick within the interplay of intention and feeling to establish a >> generalized neutral feeling which can be used like a variable in algebra. A >> feeling like “I am angry and sad because a tiger ate my kids, but relieved >> that it was only a dream” can sort of look at itself from a distance and >> strike all kinds of other thought-like sparks. We can feel fear that dream >> was a premonition. We can feel motivated to hunt tigers. These need not be >> thoughts, but emotive dispositions. They don’t entail any awareness about >> our state or our actions, only a desire for this or that response to a felt >> condition. >> >> The feeling need not be connected to a real event or a particular event, >> but as we go up the ladder of meta-abstraction, the absence of immersive >> personal feeling is replaced by formality and clarity. It is an echo of >> decoherence, as the living wave of direct feeling ‘collapses’ into a >> thermodynamically unambiguous state, the flow of participation is deferred >> into analytical hindsight and strategic foresight. >> >> On some level, it as if we are picking up the stylus from the universal >> record and holding onto it while we deliberate our options. Thought is >> born, in my view, as this kind of deferred meta entanglement…a feeling that >> is whipped up into a frothy foam where it can be used to the sculpt air - >> turning absence into a virtual presence through surface tension alone. The >> thought bubble is hypothesis, and the ultimate thought bubble is >> Mathematics because it seeks only to distill itself into its own purest >> form. It is, however, still a form. There is still a thinker thinking the >> thoughts, and the thoughts are still feelings of a living person, but these >> facts are hidden from view within the mathematical context. The pretense is >> toward a universal objectivity. >> >> Indeed, it is not incorrect to say that ‘mathematics is the language of >> the universe’, iff you define the universe to begin with as those forms >> which can be publicly observed. In my view then, it is really tautological >> to say that mathematics is the purest form of thought, since mathematics is >> only the thought of purest forms. What then, are forms? >> >> There are many ways to approach such a general term as form, but I prefer >> the underlying sense which is shared with formality. A presented shape, >> yes, but more like the logical essence of a presented shape. It is a >> presentation of coherent qualities; stability and regularity, reducibility >> to simpler, universal sub-forms, etc. Mathematics explores this aspect of >> the universe while eschewing and denying all phenomena which seems exempt >> from form. All things spontaneous and erratic, non-reducible and >> proprietary are treated poorly. Emotions, free will, and the “I” to whom >> they belong are not merely pushed to the back of the bus, but they are >> pushed out the back door of the bus, to be paved over by the steam roller >> in hot pursuit. >> >> I sympathize with people who are unable to conceive of a concretely real >> phenomenon which generates form intentionally rather than is defined by it, >> but it is harder to be sympathetic when this disability is compounded by >> the unwillingness to allow that it can be conceived. In my thousands of >> hours arguing with STEM-minded people online I have found an overwhelming >> bias against certain kinds of ideas and laughable acceptance of others. >> Ridiculously grand abstractions like MWI, or replacing every atom in a >> human brain roll off of the tongue easily, while ordinary terms like free >> will are brought under Torquemadan hyper-scrutiny. The double standard is >> tremendous, yet invisible to those who subscribe to it. Physics can be as >> counter-intuitive and unexplainable as it wants to be, but if you bring up >> intuition itself, then be prepared to hear a lot of ‘simply’ this and >> ‘merely’ that. >> >> The good news though, is that through mathematical principles like >> symmetry, we can move beyond these blind alleys. By applying all of what we >> know about the public world, its forms and formulations in reverse we can >> find where the private world of physics begins - not with numbers, but with >> names; not with abstract thoughts but with sensory experience. To be a >> living participant in a meaningful universe is to eventually put the stylus >> down somewhere and let the music play. >> >> >> The second post is shorter but it has pictures, so probably better to >> just link it: http://s33light.org/post/46154550763 It's about Tupper's >> Self-Referential Formula >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "Everything List" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. >> To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. >> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list?hl=en. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. >> >> >> > > > > -- > Alberto. > -- Alberto. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. 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