On Monday, May 10, 2004, at 10:51 AM, Bob W waxed:
Hi,
surely the purpose of mathematics is to remove this dependency. There are almost certainly things that our minds cannot comprehend that other minds could, in just the same way that there are things we can comprehend that dogs and chimpanzees cannot. But mathematics and logic allow us to explore ideas that are otherwise beyond our grasp. They allow us to take ideas that we *can* grasp and stretch them beyond our limitations, while keeping them consistent. This is why they seem weird to us. But to schoolchildren on the planet Tralfamadore they may be no weirder than building blocks are to human children.
-- Cheers, Bob
As we wax philisophically, I would like to note that Math is an invention of humans. Sure, we can apply math to natural phenomenon, but this makes it no less of a model that describes a portion of the universe any more than quantum physics, or any other theory for that matter. Just a thought, not a criticism or a comment.
IL Bill
