On Sat, Mar 1, 2014 at 2:48 AM, Bruno Marchal <[email protected]> wrot
>>> information does need a substrate in which to manifest. >>> >> >> >> That seems to be the case but perhaps not at the very lowest level. >> The integers are abstract things that aren't made of anything except other >> numbers and once you describe how they interact with other mathematical >> objects you've said all there is to say about them. In the same way in >> string theory the strings aren't made of anything and they have reality >> only in how they interact with other strings; so perhaps at the fundamental >> level reality not only can be described mathematically but actually IS >> mathematical. >> > > > And that is a necessary consequence of computationalism, but this leads > to the explicit problem of justifying physics from arithmetic or Turing > equivalent. Perhaps it's a difference in degree not of kind, when the properties of stuff becomes rich and complex enough we start referring to it as physical not mathematical. Most would say that a pie chart is mathematical but an apple pie is physical, but other than the fact that one is enormously more complex than the other it's difficult to pin down a fundamental difference between the two. And what about the memory of a apple pie you saw last week, is that mathematical or physical? If Darwin's ideas were even close to being correct then we know that the sensation we experience when we remember last week's apple pie could almost certainly be duplicated on a Turing Machine, and that is mathematical. And all the apple pies you've ever experienced come from the past, it's just that some are more recent than others, again a difference in degree not of kind. John K Clark -- 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 [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
