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# ALL maths has a purpose at at least some level.
It's all real.
(I helped save b3ta! Master Of Turnips. Only gays and morons believe in ghosts., Tue 1 Apr 2008, 17:59, archived)
# Except the surreal numbers.
Which don't actually exist as they are made from imaginary units.
(Jeru War and Piss, Tue 1 Apr 2008, 18:03, archived)
# Do any numbers exist?
/did a module in the metaphysics of maths blog
(I helped save b3ta! my other username is a porsche , posting shit pictures so you don't have to, Tue 1 Apr 2008, 18:04, archived)
# Well sort of.
You can count out a real number of items, or use them to establish quantity or distance.

4+3i Chestnuts on the other hand makes no sense whatsoever.
(Jeru War and Piss, Tue 1 Apr 2008, 18:05, archived)
# You can have a number of items,
but you can't isolate a number.
(I helped save b3ta! my other username is a porsche , posting shit pictures so you don't have to, Tue 1 Apr 2008, 18:07, archived)
# The imaginary unit felt fairly isolated, all the other numbers were off playing with their families.
But he had no real roots.
(Jeru War and Piss, Tue 1 Apr 2008, 18:08, archived)
# They could have tried to integrate him into the group.
(I helped save b3ta! my other username is a porsche , posting shit pictures so you don't have to, Tue 1 Apr 2008, 18:09, archived)
# I think we've been down this avenue before....
(Jeru War and Piss, Tue 1 Apr 2008, 18:10, archived)
# All puns have been done on the internet.
(I helped save b3ta! my other username is a porsche , posting shit pictures so you don't have to, Tue 1 Apr 2008, 18:12, archived)
# According to Plato they exist in the 'World of Forms'
but generally speaking numbers are just concepts.

Can't experience the number three after all... can only apply it.

(I helped save b3ta! Face will put on her red shoes and nrans the blues, Tue 1 Apr 2008, 18:09, archived)
# I think my conclusion over the course was that they don't exist at all,
they're just a handy manmade construct.
(I helped save b3ta! my other username is a porsche , posting shit pictures so you don't have to, Tue 1 Apr 2008, 18:11, archived)
# So is a Sherman tank.
Isn't to say that it doesn't exist though.
(Jeru War and Piss, Tue 1 Apr 2008, 18:17, archived)
# I phrased it badly.
I mean made up by man to help explain the world.
(I helped save b3ta! my other username is a porsche , posting shit pictures so you don't have to, Tue 1 Apr 2008, 18:19, archived)
# So Physics doesn't exist either?
Einstein's special relativity was an explanation of how the universe interacts, so presumably it doesn't exist. Anyway i'm being facetious now.

Numbers are to objects what letters are to sounds. The numbers and letters as them self don't really mean much, but their link to sounds, words, quantities or distances gives them their meaning and conceptual value.
(Jeru War and Piss, Tue 1 Apr 2008, 18:21, archived)
# Physics exists as a system of equations and theories which happen to fit with reality.
It's just a way for us to explain what happens in the outside world.
(I helped save b3ta! my other username is a porsche , posting shit pictures so you don't have to, Tue 1 Apr 2008, 18:33, archived)
# But surely Maths is just equations which explain the relationships between quantities and distances and areas and volumes.
Almost all known fields hinge on some vitally arbitrary measure, whether that be numbers or letters or words, both maths and physics could no doubt be rethought it completely different ways with nothing which even resembles numbers. But it would still be the same expression just using different measures.
(Jeru War and Piss, Tue 1 Apr 2008, 18:40, archived)
# Yes, that sounds about right.
You seem to be agreeing with me now that numbers are useful, but made-up things.
(I helped save b3ta! my other username is a porsche , posting shit pictures so you don't have to, Tue 1 Apr 2008, 18:43, archived)
# Yes, but I'm in the camp that all known language, science and knowledge is an adequate representation of how we experience things.
But nonetheless is all made up. I don't think it's just numbers.
(Jeru War and Piss, Tue 1 Apr 2008, 18:46, archived)
# Ok.
This is strange. I don't think I've agreed with anyone on b3ta before.
(I helped save b3ta! my other username is a porsche , posting shit pictures so you don't have to, Tue 1 Apr 2008, 18:48, archived)
# That's probably because agreement is only the synchronisation of false concepts.
*nods gravely*
(Jeru War and Piss, Tue 1 Apr 2008, 18:55, archived)
# ^ this
where "reality" is "the brain's interpretation of the signals provided by the body's sensory apparatus"
(I helped save b3ta! pzyko Query failed., Tue 1 Apr 2008, 18:41, archived)
# Ah, now we have philosophy of mind in the mix too.
That's a useful thing to know about, because it can undermine basically any argument.
I know I've pissed off a few people with it in the past.
(I helped save b3ta! my other username is a porsche , posting shit pictures so you don't have to, Tue 1 Apr 2008, 18:44, archived)
# God I love Solipsism.
Best thing ever.
(Jeru War and Piss, Tue 1 Apr 2008, 18:50, archived)
# I found I can't take 'real' Solipsists seriously
Anyone who doesn't believe in other people is possibly dangerous
(I helped save b3ta! pzyko Query failed., Tue 1 Apr 2008, 18:58, archived)
# As a Solipsist I would take exception to that comment.
But i'm afraid I can't because you don't exist.


I think even the most hardened of Solipsists don't actually think that other people don't exist, because that would be a blatant assumption on par with god like faith. They can never be sure, and they can never really know if other people experience the same degree of consciousness they do, nor if anything they see or interact with is a real representation of reality.

I wouldn't say they are dangerous though, the philosophical types tend to be quite depressive and non influential in the greater scheme of things.
(Jeru War and Piss, Tue 1 Apr 2008, 19:05, archived)
# go and tell it to Descartes ;)
I'm quite fond of the solipsistic view myself, as long as one doesn't cross a certain border. It's always good to bear in mind that the world we perceive is literally virtual to an extent, but one should nonetheless accept it as 'reality' in everyday life.
(I helped save b3ta! pzyko Query failed., Tue 1 Apr 2008, 19:17, archived)
# imaginary numbers aren't actually imaginary numbers,
they do exist... kinda...
(I helped save b3ta! Master Of Turnips. Only gays and morons believe in ghosts., Tue 1 Apr 2008, 18:05, archived)