(November 5, 2016 at 2:38 am)bennyboy Wrote:l agree, 4 is a label for whatever is the sum of 2 and 2.(November 5, 2016 at 1:48 am)Irrational Wrote: Ok, this one I'm very iffy about.
You are iffy because it's a dumb idea. That's because 2+2=4 isn't a rule or a set property-- it's simply a label. If there were a universe where math worked differently, you'd just have different labels for whatever THAT reality was. In any universe where there are 2 and 2, and the capacity to add, it will always be 4-- whatever you choose to call it. And if 2 + 2 = magic unicorn, then magic unicorn is just another representation of "4."
Maybe one should rephrase the question like this: could there be a universe in which intelligent beings cannot consistently set up the peano axioms?
A physics question as the next step: could there be a universe in which intelligent beings construct the natural numbers via something like the peano axioms, but those cannot be mapped to units of stuff in the world. We can assign the natural number 2 to a configuration of matter which is somehow grouped into two units (e.g two atoms, two balls), and if we take another of this grouping and employ our previous counting prescription for lumps of matter based on the peano axioms, will we get 2+2?
The fool hath said in his heart, There is a God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 14, KJV revised edition
