(urth) barrington interview

[António Marques]

On 10 October 2014 18:05, Jeffery Wilson clueland.com <jwilson at clueland.com>
wrote:

> On 10/10/2014 8:09 AM, Lee wrote:
>
>> Gerry Quinn: All mathematics can be encoded entirely inside the standard
>>> arithmetic
>>>
>>
>>  of the natural numbers, or simple geometry on a plane.
>>>
>>
>>
>> A nice summation of my point. Math requires numbers. Numbers describe the
>>
>> universe in terms of discrete, countable units. I find it quite possible
>> that there
>>
>> are places/times in geography and history of the universe in which the
>> concept of
>>
>> numbers was meaningless.
>>
>
> Er, no, because the concept does not depend on the actuality. The numbers
> necessary for math can be entirely notional, and in fact the numbers are
> *always* notional and abstract. There is no place you can touch the number
> two, for instance.
>

It's not a matter of the concept not depending on the actuality. It's a
matter of what you call 'concept' being how the human mind responds to
actuality. Other minds might respond to the same actuality with different
concepts. We've been saying this for days and folks still come back with
misdirected replies. (Lee has also been making the additional point that
this mind wouldn't necessarily have evolved without this actuality.)
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