Language, Mathematics, and Reductionism (Humans)

by xeno6696 , Sonoran Desert, Thursday, January 20, 2011, 22:02 (4852 days ago)
edited by unknown, Thursday, January 20, 2011, 22:09

One of the classes I'm taking right now is in the specification and design of computer programming languages. This has necessarily forced me to look deeply into mathematics in terms of what exactly is its nature and why is it so good at what it does—as well as the purpose and the goal of language. -Mathematics is the penultimate language of reductionism. It is based on axioms; and it is this category that David chastised me over after my first quick discussion on axioms being tautologies. I didn't appreciate it so much before, but the previous thread on the reality of mathematical objects was a path where I was thinking there was some "truth" in mathematics. But the Agrippan mode I adopted, hinders that approach. I'm more in line with our dearly departed George. -First a couple of observations: David, I've found you (quite often) chastising the reductionist approach to explaining the world. However; recently you've found a new appreciation for math. What gives? There is nothing in all of humanity that is more reductionist than math! Yet you've refuted many, many, times the idea that life or the universe can be explained by reductionism. -How do you reconcile these two opposing views?-The next observation is more general. The amazement with math isn't something I understand, except in the remembrance that before I knew it better, I thought it magical and mysterious. It isn't. This is because as I said earlier, all languages attempt to approximate reality. The amazement is similar to the concept that "man is intrinsically special" in the cosmos. I'm not looking for that discussion, but what the amazement really is, is the amazement that we can understand and comprehend the cosmos. It isn't amazement at math, but at our own ability, our seemingly unique ability to use and manipulate language beautifully. In short, we are proud of ourselves!-In my view, math is but one language among many; a universal language to be true—but this is because its rules are incredibly simple. Even "complex" things such as integration or differentiation are in reality only the use of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division on quantities of numbers. Physics uses these rules to write descriptions for motion, down to the particles that make up our cosmos themselves.-Don't let our ability to manipulate numbers be the reason to find God... this is a mirage.

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\"Why is it, Master, that ascetics fight with ascetics?\"

\"It is, brahmin, because of attachment to views, adherence to views, fixation on views, addiction to views, obsession with views, holding firmly to views that ascetics fight with ascetics.\"