Re: virus: Memetic evolution

Lather. Rinse. Repeat. (jwt@dana.ucc.nau.edu)
Fri, 22 Mar 1996 12:04:27 -0700 (MST)


But could we consider our understanding of the universe a formal system?

--Jay

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jwt@dana.ucc.nau.edu
http://dana.ucc.nau.edu/~jwt
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On Fri, 22 Mar 1996, Vicki Rosenzweig wrote:

>
> I'm not a mathematician, and it's been at least ten years since
> I really looked at this, but Godel's Theorem has to do with
> formal systems (specifically, those of a certain complexity:
> arithmetic is this formal, but some simple logics aren't), and
> the Universe we live in isn't (probably) a formal system.
>
> Vicki Rosenzweig
> rosenzweig@hq.acm.org
> ----------
> From: virus-owner
> To: virus
> Subject: Re: virus: Memetic evolution
> Date: Friday, March 22, 1996 9:39AM
>
> On Sat, 23 Mar 1996, Mitchell Porter wrote:
>
> > "There are no eternal truths" - is that an eternal truth itself?
> >
> > I've sometimes heard it said that "every scientific theory is replaced
> > eventually", but I see no reason to suppose that this will always be so.
>
> Okay, I'm really speaking out of my league here, but didn't Godel's
> Incompleteness Theorem assert something to the effect that no system of
> human thought could ever be both complete and without self-contradiction?
>
> If this is the case, then I suspect that we will at least continue
> refining our scientific theories for as long as we exist.
>
> --Jay
>
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> jwt@dana.ucc.nau.edu
> http://dana.ucc.nau.edu/~jwt
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>