Tom writes
> The difference between a quark and a lepton can be described with
> mathematics, even though perhaps it's harder to pin down than the
> difference between 3 and 34. I think most of us wouldn't have a
> crucial problem with that. But alas the difference between 3 and 34 is
> in the counting. Here is the heart of the matter, I believe. It takes
> an observer to count, since it takes an observer to decide when to
> start counting, or to define a group of things.
Ah ha! So what about numbers so high they haven't been counted yet?
Perhaps 10^10^10^10^10 only came into existence after exponentiation
had been discovered?
And I guess that before humans evolved on Earth, the solar system
did not have 8 or 9 planets; after all, there may have been no one
in the universe.
Or would you say that the solar system did not have 8 or 9 planets
unless some distant intelligence in the universe evolved before we
did? In that case, did the "existence" of *eight*, say, spread
at the speed of light from the point where someone first thought
of it?
Lee
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Received on Sun Jul 02 2006 - 01:53:03 PDT