-----Original Message----- From: Alberto Monteiro <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: Killer Bs Discussion <[email protected]> Sent: Thu, 13 Apr 2006 14:38:27 -0200 Subject: Re: Great Sam Harris Interview
The Fool, in a sudden religious zeal, wrote: > >>> I believe only in the purity of math. Everything else is nonsense. > >> Seriously? And what do you do with Goedel's Incompleteness Theorem? > > Does it effect the underlying math the all physics is based around? > I think it does - if the base is not solid, eventually we will come to a problem without a solution. As I understand it the incompleteness theroem does not in any way invalidate physics or the math that is used to study and support it. Goedal was famously misunderstood (at least according to a book I read recently). He did not believe that his work proved that the universe is ultimately unknowable. In fact he was basically a platonist. He firmly believed that there was truth "out there". While at Princeton he was close with only one man, Einstein. They shared a belief in the existence of an ultimate truth. Like Goedel, Einstein was in the ironic position of being credited with the notion that everything was relative when in fact his theories despite their unfortunate names proved (or he hoped they proved) the exact opposite. Einstein of course abhored quantum physics because of it inherent probablistic nature. Alberto Monteiro _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
