Yes, I was assuming that the descriptions "lose information", or generalize,
just as "mammal" is a generalization, and just as Bruno's duplication loses
information. Otherwise, I would call it a re-representation of *ALL* the
details of something, *as seen from a certain perspective*, into another form.
I don't think this is possible with physical things in our universe. This is
what I was trying to get at.
If we are limiting our discussion to numbers to begin with, then we would
have to assume at the outset that the universe is totally representable (not
just describable) by numbers in order for the discussion to have any bearing on
the final true nature of the universe. I don't assume that.
So on a side note: Even if we are talking about just numbers, I don't think
that multiplication is all that Platonic of a thing, hence I have a similar
idea about the prime factorization of integers. I think that the closest
thing to a Platonic representation of 4 is "IIII" rather than "2^2". Math
requires a person. I don't think it's possible to prove it otherwise. ;)
Tom
In a message dated 3/14/2006 7:38:40 P.M. US Mountain Standard Time,
ncsamish.domain.name.hidden writes:
* daddycaylor.domain.name.hidden wrote:
"Another note about numbering. It seems to be that if you repeatedly make
descriptions of descriptions, you eventually end up with all 0's or all 1's,
showing that numbers describing numbers is meaningless. Does this also prove
that numbers do not have a Platonic existence?"
I'm not sure what you mean. Are you saying that descriptions of
descriptions must lose accuracy? If so, why must it?
Suppose that something is described by a tape run on a computer - a
universal Turing machine. It seems to me that a "true description" of that tape
could only be an identical copy. How could a true description of that tape
degenerate into a string of all 0's or all 1's?
Norman
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Received on Fri Mar 17 2006 - 00:49:36 PST