tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post4680332965678174102..comments2024-01-13T18:57:18.243-05:00Comments on Information Processing: Horizons of truthSteve Hsuhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02428333897272913660noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-60190763007644519252013-06-17T16:01:22.012-04:002013-06-17T16:01:22.012-04:00Paul Cohen was surely at times...irascible? Alway...Paul Cohen was surely at times...irascible? Always enjoyed his lectures in grad school. I wonder what his reaction would be to learning his conjecture about the twin primes. <br /><br />I've been gone from Stanford for more than two decades, and did not realise he had died (six years ago, apparently).dwbuddnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-86438145534178904232013-06-12T17:57:09.629-04:002013-06-12T17:57:09.629-04:00what Zhang has proved is very far from the full tw...what Zhang has proved is very far from the full twin primes conjecture.5371noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-89041411724474599272013-06-10T18:51:55.184-04:002013-06-10T18:51:55.184-04:00"...when the math describes what is..."
..."...when the math describes what is..."<br /><br />A professor of theoretical chemistry at Steve's old haunt described quantum mechanics as "just a model". There are cases where when everything is taken into account the predictions for molecules are still slightly off and no one knows why.gide07noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-67863063878990384852013-06-10T07:55:21.207-04:002013-06-10T07:55:21.207-04:00It's funny how philosophies indoctrinate you. ...It's funny how philosophies indoctrinate you. I spent a lot of time as a kid thinking: <b>... that mathematics can enable us to<br /> discover how the world works by pure thought...</b> because i was taught to. As a grown up, I haven't gone completely in the other direction, but my position has changed. It is an important skill to be able to decide when the math describes what is and David Coughlinnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-90276779875490887612013-06-09T17:44:19.169-04:002013-06-09T17:44:19.169-04:00One obvious thought regarding incompleteness: Migh...One obvious thought regarding incompleteness: Might it be that if physical phenomena are regarded as theorems and physical laws as axioms than the dream of a final TOE will founder on incompleteness.gide07noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-20776208245998456412013-06-09T17:40:10.570-04:002013-06-09T17:40:10.570-04:00Godel made the astute observation that higher infi...Godel made the astute observation that higher infinities should be admitted if they were useful in proving a theorem in number theory. My guess is higher infinities are still useless.<br /><br /><br />And btw, Godel's famous theorem only applies to first order quantification. There is a complete set of axioms for number theory when second order quantification is permitted.<br /><br /><br />Mygide07noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5880610.post-68732966570077391162013-06-09T12:11:37.693-04:002013-06-09T12:11:37.693-04:00Strange that Chaitin believes it might ever be pos...Strange that Chaitin believes it might ever be possible to say exactly which Cantorian cardinals exist or do not exist "in our universe".5371noreply@blogger.com