Yea, math is for people who are bad at gambling, but who also prefer not to 'cheat' by watching to see what's happening directly.
It's a guesser's tool, and in a few kinds of situations you don't need to guess. You can "sneak a peak" and directly see. Like when all the resources for an entire self-adjusting system produce progressive diminishing returns for increasing effort at the same time. You don't need to guess what's happening. It's as easy to conclude what's happening as when seeing the hood of your car crumpling as you feel the coincident jerk of unexpected sudden deceleration. You clearly running into something is the simple answer. The math can't represent an environment, though, till after the fact, and that marks the difference between the tools of guessers and observers. Phil From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Steve Smith Sent: Monday, July 28, 2008 9:26 AM To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group Subject: Re: [FRIAM] What is mathematics? Really? Nick - "Does anybody know who it was or from what point of view they were speaking when they referred to mathematics as "neutral" between idealism and realism" Just to elaborate on this, it is my understanding that: Mathematics is for people who are bad at gambling !
============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
