Math explains so much of the universe to us that I can't help but think it's an integral part of the universe, a part we merely discover. However, our math would be different if we used a different number basis, for example, so I think we discover the underlying math and interpret it in a way that makes sense to us.
Many people think that mathematics is a human invention. To this way of thinking, mathematics is like a language: it may describe real things in the world, but it doesn't 'exist' outside the minds of the people who use it.
But the Pythagorean school of thought in ancient Greece held a different view. Its proponents believed reality is fundamentally mathematical.
More than 2,000 years later, philosophers and physicists are starting to take this idea seriously.
As I argue in a new paper, mathematics is an essential component of nature that gives structure to the physical world. link
This question is central to the plot of Neal Stephenson’s marvelous 2008 novel Anathem, which I’m rereading for the third or fourth time, and which I can’t recommend highly enough. Very minor spoiler alert - Stephenson is a mathematical Platonist at heart.
ReplyDeleteI am, too--kinda sorta.
ReplyDeleteOne recurring theme in science fiction is that math is a universal language and that all sentient species will have an understanding of mathematical constants that can be used to open communications between alien species.
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