On Mon, May 7, 2018 at 2:14 AM, Stathis Papaioannou <[email protected]> wrote:
On Thu, 3 May 2018 at 10:42 pm, John Clark <[email protected]> wrote: > > >> >> All correct arithmetical mathematical calculations may exist in some >> mystical Platonic universe and all possible books may too, but you need >> matter to sort out the correct calculations from the incorrect ones and the >> good books from the gibberish >> ; >> matter in the form of a calculating machine in one case and the author >> Jorge Luis Borges in the other. >> > > *> In general, yes: it could be said that there is a computation, but it > is of no use to us. But what if the computation is one that implements a > virtual world with conscious observers? In that case, it is still of no use > to us, but I can't see any reason why the consciousness of those observers > should be dependent on us.* > I may be living in a virtual world right now but It makes no difference to me or to any conscious observer if that's true or not because even if it is true if we want to make a calculation we're going to have to make use of matter that obeys the laws of physics, because somewhere down the road our entire virtual world must be running on a physical computer made of matter. I maintain it is an undeniable fact that physics can do mathematics, as the existence of even the simplest calculator proves, but nobody has ever found a single example of mathematics doing physics, it just can't be derived from the axioms of pure mathematics. And that is why we need experiment. From that fact it isn't difficult to conclude physics is the more fundamental of the two and mathematicians are correct when they say it is a language. English is a language too but you can't get eggs from the word "chicken", to get eggs you need about 6.02*10^23 atoms arranged in a particular way that humans have put into a general category they call "chicken". 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 https://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
