Re:Struggles with the Continuum
by licebmi__at on Wednesday September 07, 2016 @04:04PM
(#12447024)
When I was a physics undergrad, I loved discussing (both offline and online) about the arbitrary nature of math and also the logical holes in the scientific method.
Despite providing reputable sources to my claims, I got called out for being anti-scientific, a creationist maybe.
I felt disheartened not for the lack of knowledge, but because the refusal from some "skeptics" to challenge their beliefs.
Nowdays I still love discussing about this stuff but only for amusement and with a somewhat trollish approach.
They assume the axiom of choice because it makes a lot of nice results possible. So, it's not exactly arbitrary.
Re:Struggles with the Continuum
by DigitalPhysics on Friday September 09, 2016 @12:19PM
(#12463612)
Let Mathematicians frolic in the Platonic world if they wish, but should physicists be using continuous math if our universe ends up by being discrete and finite?
Something I never realized as an undergradute math major/ physics minor was to what exent mathematics is arbitrary. We set certain axioms describing the real line, and then two, three, higher dimensional spaces. But the actual details are governed by arbitrary choices and culture as opposed to any reason of necessity.
A lot of advanced mathematics assumes the axiom of choice, but as far as the mathematics applies to the real world there is no known consequences to assuming the opposite. It is purely a cultural choice.
People have an idea that math is universal and absolute, but that isn't so much true!