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>What does it mean to exist independent of time and space? Nothing, as far as I can see. I was once at a UVIC philosophy seminar where this came up. I asked if,
by RcouF1uZ4gsC 8y ago
>What does it mean to exist independent of time and space? Nothing, as far as I can see. I was once at a UVIC philosophy seminar where this came up. I asked if, in the time of the dinosaurs, bounded linear operators already existed. Yes, I was told. I have no idea what this meant.
I think a more interesting question is if an intelligent species that lived a billion light years away from us would eventually come up with bounded linear operators (or something homomorphic to it).
- hawkjo 8y agoThis is of the same flavor as wondering if said species would invent money, a collective fiction of usefulness so obvious it has been created many times. Or perhaps it’s closer to wondering if they would develop futures on a stock market.
- kevin_thibedeau 8y agoDinosaurs didn't have numbers as they hadn't been invented yet. Merely being surround by quantities of stuff doesn't make human abstractions spring into existence. The natural world doesn't perform arithmetic beyond summation and subtraction or symbolic manipulation of anything. We may use invented symbols to model abstract concepts aspects of the natural world but that doesn't make such things exist outside of collective human knowledge.