1 HN user recommended this interview1 month2020–2021score 1.5
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026
HN commenters recommend it as a thoughtful and nuanced take on the philosophy of mathematics.
Gregory Chaitin is interviewed on Closer To Truth about whether mathematics is invented or discovered. He gives a nuanced view that ties the question to the nature of reality.
“The whole interview is actually quite nuanced on the question of whether math is discovered or invented and well worth a watch” (HN, 2021)
Gregory Chaitin has an interesting take on this: "The only place where medieval theology survives is pure math." [this video] (The whole interview is actually quite nuanced on the question of whether math is discovered or invented and well worth a watch. There are also interviews with other mathematicians and physicists in the series, for example with Roger Penrose, but most other researchers seem to hold a rather dogmatic and platonist view, which is why I found Chaitin's perspective refreshing.)
Nuanced Chaitin interview on math as invented versus discovered.
Entire playlist: * [link] Gregory Chaitin was interesting as well: * [this video] The (apocryphal?) story about Godel not believing in empirical science and only in a priori truths was interesting.
Chaitin interview on whether math is invented or discovered.
You got me to chuckle at, "thought terminating thought experiment". I will file that in my cliché attaché. Are you saying that I am asking for a universal perfect compressor, like I am winning the Hutter Prize [1] ? I don't believe I said that. To add to the tooling, what if the forum itself "learned you", and took that into account when I respond. It would know everything you wrote, potentially everything you read (on this site), and you in turn would know me. It might help mediate a discussion or prevent folks from talking past each other. What if our systems, could allow us to contextualize communication so that it was grounded in the same basis of knowledge as the receiver? Might some of those signaling mechanisms be the norms and affectations of each branch of study? You have given me some things to think about [2] [1] [link] [2] [link] [3] Looks like they have some thought provoking books and interviews [link] Is Mathematics Invented or Discovered? [this video] [4] A physicist looks at linguistics through a complexity lens [link] [link]
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