Closer to the truth: mathematics

There is an ongoing PBS TV series (many books and also a website) called Closer to Truth. Hosted by neuroscientist Robert Lawrence Kuhn. He has appeared in one-on-one interviews and group discussions with the cream of today’s cosmologists, physicists, philosophers, theologians, psychologists, etc. in all the big questions surrounding a triumvirate of broad subjects—the universe; Awareness; meaning. The trilogy collectively dealt with reality, space and time, mind and consciousness, aliens, divinity, and so on. Here are some of my comments on one of the general topics covered, Mathematics.

Is mathematics eternal?

Simple, complex, beautiful, elegant, ugly, explains it all, success story, cornerstone, etc. These are words and phrases often associated with mathematics, especially beauty and elegance. This in itself does not make mathematics eternal.

I suspect that aside from the laws, principles, and relationships of physics, there will be some kind of math to cover it. However, a lot of our mathematics has nothing to do with physics – the inverse cube relation for example.

Is mathematics eternal 2?

What is the state of mathematics? Is mathematics eternal?

Mathematics has no place outside the human mind. So mathematics is eternal only as long as human minds exist. Mathematics is an invention of the human mind (since I know of no other form of life that uses mathematics in any abstract way) to help humans deal with the many (also invented) complexities of human society (eg trade, commerce, economics). Mathematics provides practical applications such as navigation and provides order and predictability in the natural world that governs human roost. Mathematics is nothing because it has no physical properties and cannot be detected by any of your sensory devices. Of course if we are in a simulated universe (virtual reality), we exist entirely as a mathematical structure and within it.

Of course mathematics may also have been the invention of extraterrestrial intelligence, so mathematics may continue forever in the universe as long as there are intelligent life forms around using and abusing their mathematical inventions.

Is mathematics invented or discovered 1?

IMHO, mathematics is not a thing, a concept just an invention of the human mind. Mathematics has none of the properties we associate with things. Things can be discovered. Concepts were invented. One plus two equals three (1 + 2 = 3) is nothing. Pi is not a thing. The quadratic equation is nothing. Mathematical theories are not things. Mathematics cannot be discovered with any of the five senses, or even with devices that expand our sensory capabilities beyond what our sensory apparatus can come to terms with. Mathematics is a useful tool of course, although many potential maths may not be. We research and adopt the kind of mathematics that goes with what we observe, with what is useful, and we put what does not fit into the trash can. So the gravitational force can be calculated by the inverse square law, but not by the inverse cube law, so the inverse cube relation is trashed. Then we wonder about the beauty and elegance of the inverse square law that explains the way gravitational force works over a distance and forget about the beauty and elegance of the inverse cube law. On the other hand, beauty and elegance are not legitimate scientific or even mathematical terms. You won’t find it in any scientific or mathematical dictionary no matter how many times scientists and mathematicians use it, according to several interviews here at Closer to the Truth.

Is mathematics invented or discovered 2?

The set of all possible mathematical equations is close to infinity as there are no probabilities, so it should come as no surprise that a subset of them must coincidentally reflect what happens in the real world like the inverse square law of the propagation of electromagnetic radiation and gravity. This means that mathematics is an invention, not a discovery. If there really was this vast, wonderful world of an infinite number of mathematical relations waiting to be discovered as an integral and essential part of the universe, one would not expect that the vast majority ended up having no connection with the universe at large and the physical laws, principles and relationships that govern the roost.