Re: Cantor's Theory: Mathematical creationism

From: Harold Schmelzer (hschmelz_at_tcsdk12.org)
Date: 11/22/04 

Date: Mon, 22 Nov 2004 21:47:24 +0000 (UTC)

On 22 Nov 2004, David Petry wrote:
>Cantor's theory (classical set theory) has the same relationship to
>the mathematical sciences as Creationism theory has to the physical
>sciences. They are similar in content and similar in origin. Cantor's
>theory is essentially a creation myth.
>
>Both Cantor's theory and Creationism theory are founded on the
>proposition that we must acknowledge the existence of some abstract
>infinite entity lying beyond what we can observe in order to understand
>the reality that we do observe.
>
>Furthermore, both have religious origins, and both try to hide their
>religious origins. Creationism comes from ancient Jewish religious
>teachings about the origin of the universe, and Cantor's theory of the
>infinite has its origins in Medieval Jewish religious/mystical teachings
>known as Kabbalah, wherein the world of the infinite is a higher level
>of existence.
>

>Both Cantor's theory and Creationism theory are pseudoscience. Both the
>Creationists and the Cantorians impose upon their disciples a world view
>in which people must modify their thinking to incorporate certain axioms
>handed down from higher authority, and they are then compelled to accept
>any "logical" conclusions derived from those axioms. Anyone who dares to
>suggest that those axioms and the conclusions derived from those axioms
>don't pass reality checks, is demonized as an idiot, imbecile, crackpot,
>heretic, or some other kind of subhuman, and excluded from the community.
>
>Both theories do interfere with scientific, technological and social
>progress.
>
>A new world view, and a new paradigm for mathematics, have emerged
>from the computer revolution. This new world view strips away the
>mysticism from the mind, and from the foundations of mathematics.
>
>We now think of the brain as a computer, and the mind as the software
>running on the computer. Mathematics is a tool invented by the mind to
>help it understand the world in a precise, quantitative way. The brain
>and the mind (and mathematics) have co-evolved, and this evolution
>can be explained without recourse to abstract entities lying outside
>the world we observe.
>
>Furthermore, due to the existence of computers which are clearly
>distinct from the human brain, we are forced to admit that there is
>something about the virtual world that has an objective existence.
>>From a mathematical perspective, we can think of the computer as a
>microscope which helps us peer into a world of computation, and then
>mathematics itself is the science which studies the phenomena observed
>in that (virtual) world. The world of computation can be accepted as
>a given, just as the physical world is accepted as a given in the
>physical sciences. The fundamental objects living in the world
>of computation are data structures and algorithms, and a foundation
>for mathematics can be built on those objects. We study mathematics
>because the phenomena observed in the world of computation can serve
>as a model for phenomena observed in the physical world.
>
>For those who accept this new world view, it is quite absurd to think
>that the mind, which lives in the world of computation, can "prove"
>the existence of a super-infinite world which has no connection to the
>phenomena observed in the world of computation. The explanation for
>Cantor's theory lies in the ability of the mind to delude itself.
>
>
>
>Footnote 1: Everyone in the United States knows what Creationism is,
>but perhaps other people don't. The Creationists take the biblical
>creation myth as literal scientific truth, and they want the public
>schools to teach this theory as an alternative to evolution.
>
>Footnote 2: One interesting difference between the Cantorians and
>the Creationists is a political difference. The Creationists have
>strong connections to Christian/conservative politics, and the
>Cantorians have connections to Humanistic/liberal politics.
>
>Footnote 3: Debunking pseudoscience is a noble endeavor.
I would suggest that Cantor is science and those people trying to disprove him are
the creationists

Harold

Today;s proofs are closer to a lawyers closing statement than a two column proof

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