From: Perry E. Metzger (perry@piermont.com)
Date: Sun Apr 27 2003 - 21:26:27 MDT
Simon Gordon <sim_dizzy@yahoo.com> writes:
> --- "Perry E. Metzger" <perry@piermont.com> wrote: >
> > Paul Hughes <psiphius@yahoo.com> writes:
> > > I find it deeply satisfying on many levels the idea
> > > that EVERYTHING exists, and I'm even willing to go so
> > > far as to say there are an infinite number of universe
> > > with which our current understanding (including all
> > > know mathematics) hasn't accounted for yet.
> >
> > On what basis are you willing to say that? Just your
> > gut reaction?
> >
> gut reaction = intuition , and intuition is probably a
> better mind tool than any kind of ordinary logical
> reasoning.
You are of course entitled to your opinion, but the overwhelming body
of evidence is that you are wrong. "Intuition" and "gut reactions"
would tell you that much which we know to be true is nonsense, and yet
we can verify it. "Intuition" is useless when it comes to things that
are far beyond the world we evolved for. I trust your intuition on
whether your girlfriend might be mad at you, or whether you can throw
a ball a certain distance, but I'd say that given the number of people
who still don't "intuit" even Newton's laws of motion, intuition is
a lousy tool for exploring the universe.
> Einstein and Goedel would agree with me.
I would say that they would both most certainly disagree with you.
> As to my background in metamathematics, most of what i
> have a currently garnered on the subject so far has
> been from reading Rudy Rucker's nonfiction series =}
Might I suggest, then, that you learn more about the subject before
attempting to make comments about it?
> With regards to informal systems, they are conceivable
> so sure they exist. Formal systems are but a tiny
> infinitesimal subset of the set of all mathematical
> systems, according to my intuition ;)
-- Perry E. Metzger perry@piermont.com
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