Mathematics...
Can love, beauty, piety, and good be reduced to mathematical equations? Can mathematics explain why somebody cries after watching a sad movie? Can mathematical equations explain why the fragrance of a rose or the smell of fresh rain in the early spring morning is so delightful and hiking through the mountains is a so inspiring? Can mathematics explain how this girl can make me so shy and nervous but at the same time make my day by smiling at me?
posted by Shaggy Z @ 12:30 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Interesting questions.. I would possibly say yes, but we are light years away from seeing the big picture.
Is your last name really Zondervan, as in the publisher?
Hey mis_nomer, thanks for the comment. My last name is really Zondervan, as in the publisher. Zondervan was founded near Grand Rapids in 1931 by Pat and Bernie Zondervan. I am not related to them, as far as I know. (In 1988 Zondervan became a division of HarperCollinsPublishers.)
Reductionism: Human behavior can be explained by biology, right? Biology can be explained by chemistry, right? Chemistry can be explained by physics, right? Physics can be described by mathematics, right? So shouldn't one be able to explain human behavior with mathematics? That's doubtful. Once you reach the realm of the subatomic, things get really weird. You start talking about probability, statistics. You don't talk about an electron's location, you just deal with the probability of it being in a certain location by solving the Schoedinger equation. In this realm, the mechanical, cause and effect notion of classical physics doesn't really apply; randomness and chance abound.
But perhaps there is a whole different type of mathematics in the subatomic level,just that we don't understand it yet, or perhaps never will?
I would love to have Zondervan as a last name...
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