Then we, who are in his image, can recognize that "There is...". The
purest form of this recognition, I believe, is mathematics. Of course
I'm a mathematician, so I'm biased. :)
Tom
Tom Caylor wrote:
> Stephen,
>
> I wrote the following before you wrote this post, but I think it
> addresses it somewhat.
>
> My two cents is again to say that mathematics is about invariance.
> Platonia is about invariance. Invariance is even more fundamental than
> number. Numbers are defined by invariance. The number 3 is the
> invariant attribute of all sets of 3.
>
> I take it that Bruno's existence is just the "interference pattern" of
> computations, as I think he sometimes puts it. According to him, I
> think the ether that we swim in (exist in) is computations, an ether of
> consistency. John Barrow in his book "Pi in the Sky" brought up
> the possibility that we are part of Platonia, but he concluded that
> this didn't make sense. My opinion is that it doesn't make sense
> if Platonia is only numbers, i.e. computation. This is for the very
> reason you bring up, Stephen. An interference pattern requires a
> particular point of view. But if all points of view are equally
> unspecial (modulo consistency), then we are back to the "why
> something instead of nothing?" problem ("why this particular point
> of view that I am experiencing, rather than another point of view?").
> Something has to break the symmetry of the zero information pool.
> "Interference patterns" are not sufficient to break the symmetry.
> (Along the same line of reasoning, even an anthropic principle is not
> sufficient.) Summing the interference patterns over all points-of-view
> results in zero. I've taken my answer to this from somewhere outside
> myself. There has to be someone with universal power to say "Let
> there be...".
>
> Tom
>
> Stephen Paul King wrote:
> > Hi Tom,
> >
> > I think that you are bring up a good point but I must ask about the
> > nature of "invariance"! The notion of invariance involves a subject to which
> > the invariance obtains. If there is no such an subject, what meaning does
> > the notion of a invariance have?
> >
> > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invariant_%28mathematics%29
> >
> >
> > Onward!
> >
> > Stephen
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Tom Caylor" <Daddycaylor.domain.name.hidden>
> > To: "Everything List" <everything-list.domain.name.hidden>
> > Sent: Thursday, June 22, 2006 12:13 PM
> > Subject: Re: Only Existence is necessary?
> >
> >
> > snip
> >
> > I've been thinking about Platonia lately. I've just finished reading
> > John Barrow's "Pi in the Sky" book, and he seems to have gotten wrapped
> > around the axle in regard to mathematics and Platonia. I think that
> > mathematics is not primarily about numbers. Mathematics is about
> > invariance. Invariance is not about any *thing* (existence)
> > specifically. Perhaps this thought can shed light on this somehow?
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Received on Thu Jun 22 2006 - 18:50:03 PDT