At 9:45 PM -0500 2/26/07, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/27/science/27math.html?hp
from the article:
In the beauty and geometric complexity of tile mosaics on walls of
medieval Islamic buildings, scientists have recognized patterns
suggesting that the designers had made a conceptual breakthrough in
mathematics beginning as early as the 13th century.
A new study shows that the Islamic pattern-making process, far more
intricate than the laying of one's bathroom floor, appears to have
involved an advanced math of quasi crystals, which was not understood
by modern scientists until three decades ago.
A more conservative description might be that the Islamic artists
discovered a pattern that was particularly effective in generating
architectural designs. It is not clear whether any knowledge of the
underlying mathematics is necessary to generate these patterns, even
though the math is an effective way to describe them, and to fit them
into a broader mathematical system.
It's like saying that because a dog's behavior in catching a Frisbee
can be described in the language of physics the dog therefore knows
physics.
Now it's quite possible that the 13th century Islamic artists had in
fact developed a mathematical formulation to generate these patterns,
but nothing in the article supports this conclusion.
To quote:
Dr. Steinhardt said in an interview that it was not clear how well
the Islamic designers understood all the elements they were applying
to the construction of these patterns. "I can just say what's on the
walls," he said.
--
The best argument against intelligent design is that people believe in it.
* PAUL K. BRANDON [EMAIL PROTECTED] *
* Psychology Department 507-389-6217 *
* 23 Armstrong Hall Minnesota State University, Mankato *
* http://krypton.mnsu.edu/~pkbrando/ *
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