On Fri, Aug 30, 2019 at 11:26 AM Bruno Marchal <[email protected]> wrote:
>> Euclid proved that *IF* numbers have nothing to do with physics then > there are infinitely many primes. But that's a big if. > > *That is false. Or give the reference.* > I need to provide a reference for you to believe Euclid didn't mention physics in his proof?! *> Euclid simply did not assume that numbers have nothing to do with > physics.* > Then why didn't Euclid mention physics in his proof? > > The numbers, informally, intuitively, as well as formally have no > relation at all with any assumption concerning the existence of a physical > reality, > But the numbers we use DO have a hidden assumption about the existence of the physical. As children we are taught one way to measure the distance along the number line, and measuring distance is important because it's the reason we say 2+2=4. We say for example 300 is larger than 8/45 because it is further from zero. However if there really are an infinite number of prime numbers then with p-adic numbers there are an infinite number of ways to measure distance and all of them are internally as self consistent as the distance measuring procedure engineers use to build a bridge. For example if p is 3 then the 3-adic distance between zero and 300 is 1/3 but the 3-adic distance between zero and 8/45 is 9, so by the 3-adic measure 8/45 is much larger than 300. Even though it's internally consistent only abstract mathematicians are much interested in p-adic numbers because they're not much use in physics. *> Then you should not use it to claim that only a primitively material > computation can support consciousness.* > I have not made that claim, I don't even know what "*primitively material computation" *means. 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 view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/everything-list/CAJPayv1A9eA1yB_sd9iTHV0vqi%3DLSX7WhGSr5vYsCnwsnpaWkQ%40mail.gmail.com.
