Friday, December 19, 2008
What We Know
Psuedo-Polymath writes and quotes on science, math and epistemology:
Though I love and am reasonably proficient at mathematics, I would not go so far. You see, God also created much that is not subject to mathematical description - humans would be a good example. If indeed mathematics is the language of God, then by implication, an unfallen creation would behave entirely mathematically - inclusive of animal and human behavior. And yet, as beings created in the image of God, we are in turn creative, something that assures at least the occasional bit of erratic, unpredictable, non-mathematical behavior. Heck, even the cats are not entirely predictable. All of creation, even an unfallen creation, is not mathematically precise and predictable.
If there is a language of God - WE ARE IT. Only something as complex and varied, and erratic as a person can come even close to expressing God. Hence, Christ - think about it.
But back to mathematics - the fact that the so much of the universe is so precise and predictable does tell us something about God and ourselves. God must enjoy mathematical precision, or else He would not have built it into His creation. And our ability to discover it is yet another manifestation of being created in His image.
I wonder what would happen to mathematics and science education if we taught it from the perspective that it is an expression of God?
Just wondering?
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Mr Wigner’s essential observation is that in the first place starting from a number of relatively imprecise measurements a great mathematical structure (Lagrangian and Hamiltonian mechanics) is built. Ms Neother’s theorem is but one elegant and precise result that falls out from that mathematical structure. The quantity of results and their precision far exceeds the precision and quality of the experimental data going into the formation of those theories. Or as Mr Wigner suggests:Is mathematics the "language of God?" Some would say so; this seems to imply it.
A possible explanation of the physicist’s use of mathematics to formulate his laws of nature is that he is a somewhat irresponsible person. As a result, when he finds a connection between two quantities which resembles a connection well-known from mathematics, he will jump at the conclusion that the connection is that discussed in mathematics simply because he does not know of any other similar connection. It is not the intention of the present discussion to refute the charge that the physicist is a somewhat irresponsible person. Perhaps he is. However, it is important to point out that the mathematical formulation of the physicist’s often crude experience leads in an uncanny number of cases to an amazingly accurate description of a large class of phenomena. This shows that the mathematical language has more to commend it than being the only language which we can speak; it shows that it is, in a very real sense, the correct language.
Though I love and am reasonably proficient at mathematics, I would not go so far. You see, God also created much that is not subject to mathematical description - humans would be a good example. If indeed mathematics is the language of God, then by implication, an unfallen creation would behave entirely mathematically - inclusive of animal and human behavior. And yet, as beings created in the image of God, we are in turn creative, something that assures at least the occasional bit of erratic, unpredictable, non-mathematical behavior. Heck, even the cats are not entirely predictable. All of creation, even an unfallen creation, is not mathematically precise and predictable.
If there is a language of God - WE ARE IT. Only something as complex and varied, and erratic as a person can come even close to expressing God. Hence, Christ - think about it.
But back to mathematics - the fact that the so much of the universe is so precise and predictable does tell us something about God and ourselves. God must enjoy mathematical precision, or else He would not have built it into His creation. And our ability to discover it is yet another manifestation of being created in His image.
I wonder what would happen to mathematics and science education if we taught it from the perspective that it is an expression of God?
Just wondering?
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