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The book is pretty interesting even if somewhat dramatic: "...he insisted that all of that, however painful, was secondary to the sudden realization that it was
by mathematically 5y ago
The book is pretty interesting even if somewhat dramatic: "...he insisted that all of that, however painful, was secondary to the sudden realization that it was mathematics—not nuclear weapons, computers, biological warfare or our climate Armageddon—which was changing our world to the point where, in a couple of decades at most, we would simply not be able to grasp what being human really meant. Not that we ever did, he said, but things are getting worse. We can pull atoms apart, peer back at the first light and predict the end of the universe with just a handful of equations, squiggly lines and arcane symbols that normal people cannot fathom, even though they hold sway over their lives. But it’s not just regular folks; even scientists no longer comprehend the world."
- osrec 5y agoDramatic, perhaps, but probably close to the truth. Our sense of familiarity with our world is probably nothing more than us being blissfully ignorant of its true complexity.
- throwanem 5y ago> The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- hyperpallium2 5y agoIrrational numbers, imaginary numbers, spooky action at a distance, quantum mechanics, and "Young man, you don't understand mathematics, you just get used to it"... ... but it's only now that we no longer understand?
- Gravityloss 5y agoThat's a fun way of putting it, thanks for your comment.