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Mathematics An Alien Language?
March 15, 2015 at 7:14 pm
This seemed like a very appropriate place for this random science fiction-y thought: If the Universe ever comes under a simple but elegant numerical formula, could mathematics be revealed as a language that contains a message from a transcendent being or system, devils that our minds are not equipped to dance with yet exist in everything our minds conceive?
The message: infinities boundless, ineffable, all, nothing, plural, one.
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RE: Mathematics An Alien Language?
March 15, 2015 at 7:22 pm
Sure! At some point the digits of pi start spelling out a message with greetings from the architect. The hard part is translating it...
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RE: Mathematics An Alien Language?
March 15, 2015 at 7:58 pm
Sagan speculated in Contact (the novel) there would be a sequence of numbers deep in the digits of pi that could be decoded into a picture of a circle, IIRC.
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RE: Mathematics An Alien Language?
March 15, 2015 at 7:59 pm
if the message is Pi, then its one hell of a long message .
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RE: Mathematics An Alien Language?
March 15, 2015 at 8:19 pm
(This post was last modified: March 15, 2015 at 8:19 pm by Anomalocaris.)
(March 15, 2015 at 7:14 pm)Nestor Wrote: This seemed like a very appropriate place for this random science fiction-y thought: If the Universe ever comes under a simple but elegant numerical formula, could mathematics be revealed as a language that contains a message from a transcendent being or system, devils that our minds are not equipped to dance with yet exist in everything our minds conceive?
The message: infinities boundless, ineffable, all, nothing, plural, one.
Fixed that for you.
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RE: Mathematics An Alien Language?
March 16, 2015 at 12:35 am
(March 15, 2015 at 8:19 pm)Chuck Wrote: (March 15, 2015 at 7:14 pm)Nestor Wrote: This seemed like a very appropriate place for this random science fiction-y thought: If the Universe ever comes under a simple but elegant numerical formula, could mathematics be revealed as a language that contains a message from a transcendent being or system, devils that our minds are not equipped to dance with yet exist in everything our minds conceive?
The message: infinities boundless, ineffable, all, nothing, plural, one.
Fixed that for you. I see what you did there. But my inspiration was partly Stanislaw Lem's brilliant story "Non Servium" and I think that could fairly be called science fiction: http://themindi.blogspot.com/2007/02/cha...m.html?m=1
So! There!
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RE: Mathematics An Alien Language?
March 16, 2015 at 12:54 am
I think Real Science fiction can be thought of as an exercise of reasonable, if not rigorous, deduction of the consequences of a speculative knowledge base that is not currently supported by actual science.
If all you have is the speculative knowledge base, and none of the reasonable deduction, then where is there any relationship to science?
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RE: Mathematics An Alien Language?
March 16, 2015 at 12:55 am
42, brotha. 42.
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RE: Mathematics An Alien Language?
March 16, 2015 at 1:04 am
(March 16, 2015 at 12:54 am)Chuck Wrote: I think Real Science fiction can be thought of as an exercise of reasonable, if not rigorous, deduction of the consequences of a speculative knowledge base that is not currently supported by actual science.
If all you have is the speculative knowledge base, and none of the reasonable deduction, then where is there any relationship to science? Fair enough. Philosophical fiction? Or is that too similar to theology?
He who loves God cannot endeavour that God should love him in return - Baruch Spinoza
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RE: Mathematics An Alien Language?
March 16, 2015 at 1:06 am
Mathematics must be quite alien, considering how I failed the class so much after seventh grade.
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