The Religion of Math.
Some time back, I read (skimmed, actually) a document written by some Christian in the early 1900's trying to disprove evolution using "scientific reasoning." (It's really long and boring, but the loopy logic is good for a couple laughs.) His arguments were pretty absurd and didn't hold water, probably cuz he used over-simplified numerical approximations for complex situations. But he did say one thing I liked, and that was that "mathematics will not lie even at the demand of liars."
Well, I was thinking recently about how absolute the control of math is over the universe. Mathematical relationships govern all (e.g. the Conservation of Energy/Mass/Momentum) and explains the seemingly unexplainable. The way I think of it, everything in the world can be explained by math/science (even if we don't yet have the knowledge to do so). Chaotic situations, upon closer inspection, can often be quantified and mathematically rationalized; so you could kinda say that math brings "order from chaos."
After thinking about it some more, I got to thinking, hmmmm... what do you call something that governs all? I'd probably call it something like 'God.' I mean, I'm not gonna go out worshipping math or anything, but I think several parallels can be drawn. With each great leap forward, we're one step closer to understanding our universe. It's like Euclid, Newton, Leibnitz, etc. are the prophets with "divinely" inspired revelations, and books like the Principia are the testaments helping us to understand the will of our "lord." Math is omnipresent; you cannot escape it's grasp. Just try to jump up and not fall at 9.8 m/s^2 (on Earth, at sea level). Math & science can be used to predict the behavior of objects (; so you might say that math "knows the future"). And the ultimate fate of the universe, whether it be Closed or Open Universe Theory, will be in accordance with mathematical relationships (; so you can say that the universe will end in accordance with math's whims).
And then there's the concept of infinity. On several occasions, I've sat pondering infinity, and been like, nyaaagggg... too.. much... to handle! It's greatness is too much for me to comprehend! Haha, I'm serious! But yea, don't religious folk get that kind of feeling sometimes when they ponder too much about their God(s)?
But then again, I've heard more than once that math is nothing more than a human created tool- for our own convenience in explaining things. Hey, not to point the finger or anything, but *ahem* hasn't the same thing been said about religion a couple times? (On a personal note, in the question of "Did God create man, or did man create God?" I hold to the latter.) But yea, even if we didn't find ways of expressing math, would that change the fact that it exists? Ok, let's say that a rock placed next to another rock is the same thing as a couple of rocks already next to each other. Even if we were too stupid to express this situation numerically, does that change the fact that 1+1=2? Math exists out there, regardless of whether or not people understand it or want to admit it. (Man, I bet that same statement has been said about God a time or two.)
(DANG it! I forgot half the stuff I was gonna talk about... I'll fill this in some time when I remember)
But yea, wouldn't it be funny if one day, you were walking down the street with one of those cross necklaces on and someone stops you and is all like, "hey, I didn't know you were Christian." And you'd say, "naw, man, it's not a cross, it's a plus sign!" Hahah, ok, well, I think it'd be funny.
*I recalled that document I linked basically cuz one of the quirkiest things I remembered from it was that the guy tried to attribute all sorts of numerical perfections and large calculations to the infinite wisdom of God. (HAH!)
**Note: Yes, I'm aware of the fact that many/most famous scientists & mathematicians were Christian.
Some time back, I read (skimmed, actually) a document written by some Christian in the early 1900's trying to disprove evolution using "scientific reasoning." (It's really long and boring, but the loopy logic is good for a couple laughs.) His arguments were pretty absurd and didn't hold water, probably cuz he used over-simplified numerical approximations for complex situations. But he did say one thing I liked, and that was that "mathematics will not lie even at the demand of liars."
Well, I was thinking recently about how absolute the control of math is over the universe. Mathematical relationships govern all (e.g. the Conservation of Energy/Mass/Momentum) and explains the seemingly unexplainable. The way I think of it, everything in the world can be explained by math/science (even if we don't yet have the knowledge to do so). Chaotic situations, upon closer inspection, can often be quantified and mathematically rationalized; so you could kinda say that math brings "order from chaos."
After thinking about it some more, I got to thinking, hmmmm... what do you call something that governs all? I'd probably call it something like 'God.' I mean, I'm not gonna go out worshipping math or anything, but I think several parallels can be drawn. With each great leap forward, we're one step closer to understanding our universe. It's like Euclid, Newton, Leibnitz, etc. are the prophets with "divinely" inspired revelations, and books like the Principia are the testaments helping us to understand the will of our "lord." Math is omnipresent; you cannot escape it's grasp. Just try to jump up and not fall at 9.8 m/s^2 (on Earth, at sea level). Math & science can be used to predict the behavior of objects (; so you might say that math "knows the future"). And the ultimate fate of the universe, whether it be Closed or Open Universe Theory, will be in accordance with mathematical relationships (; so you can say that the universe will end in accordance with math's whims).
And then there's the concept of infinity. On several occasions, I've sat pondering infinity, and been like, nyaaagggg... too.. much... to handle! It's greatness is too much for me to comprehend! Haha, I'm serious! But yea, don't religious folk get that kind of feeling sometimes when they ponder too much about their God(s)?
But then again, I've heard more than once that math is nothing more than a human created tool- for our own convenience in explaining things. Hey, not to point the finger or anything, but *ahem* hasn't the same thing been said about religion a couple times? (On a personal note, in the question of "Did God create man, or did man create God?" I hold to the latter.) But yea, even if we didn't find ways of expressing math, would that change the fact that it exists? Ok, let's say that a rock placed next to another rock is the same thing as a couple of rocks already next to each other. Even if we were too stupid to express this situation numerically, does that change the fact that 1+1=2? Math exists out there, regardless of whether or not people understand it or want to admit it. (Man, I bet that same statement has been said about God a time or two.)
(DANG it! I forgot half the stuff I was gonna talk about... I'll fill this in some time when I remember)
But yea, wouldn't it be funny if one day, you were walking down the street with one of those cross necklaces on and someone stops you and is all like, "hey, I didn't know you were Christian." And you'd say, "naw, man, it's not a cross, it's a plus sign!" Hahah, ok, well, I think it'd be funny.
*I recalled that document I linked basically cuz one of the quirkiest things I remembered from it was that the guy tried to attribute all sorts of numerical perfections and large calculations to the infinite wisdom of God. (HAH!)
**Note: Yes, I'm aware of the fact that many/most famous scientists & mathematicians were Christian.
posted by Dear Daniel at 8:13 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home