Pete Carlton > Hi Marc -- > > it's interesting to wonder about "what it would be like" to directly > perceive mathematics -- but we also have to acknowledge when we ask > the question, what are the philosophical assumptions we're smuggling > along. For instance, the human brain is not capable of direct > perception of tables, either. > > What raises a flag for me in your question is the following apparent > dichotomy: > 1) "The human brain is not capable of direct perception of > mathematical entities" > 2) "We could imagine some super-intelligence that possessed this > ability . . ." >
I'd like to suggest a far more interesting prospect: that we _literally are_ a mathematics. The form of that mathematics, and our role within it as its metamathematics, the status of abstract symbolic mathematics within that -metamathematics-R-us universe and its relationship with the mathematics-as-reality (I have called this 'entropy calculus' elsewhere..for the sake of having a name)....these things are very interesting and worthy of some thought... happy new year, all... cheers Colin
