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> 1+1=2 presumes a reductionist and somewhat capitalist view of the world Hopefully, not all Chinese engineers think that... > mathematics is a subject that i

> 1+1=2 presumes a reductionist and somewhat capitalist view of the world Hopefully, not all Chinese engineers think that... > mathematics is a subject that invents abstract concepts and rewards Not according to much of the history of math. Mathematics was borne of practical needs, and it has been extremely useful in science and engineering. (Sure, you can think of the number 2, say, as an abstract concept, but to most people it is a very concrete thing - as is the definite integral, etc.) Yes, a philosophical journey can be a journey down a rabbit hole, so one should be careful...

hnfong 4y ago
> Hopefully, not all Chinese engineers think that... :) The main point of divergence between "Western Capitalism" and "Socialism with Chinese characteristics" isn't whether it's ok to accumulate capital, but who controls it :) I think both agree that capital is a great idea for building strong nations. > Not according to much of the history of math. Mathematics was borne of practical needs, and it has been extremely useful in science and engineering. (Sure, you can think of the number 2, say, as an abstract concept, but to most people it is a very concrete thing - as is the definite integral, etc.) I agree, and... that's kind of my point. I intended to say modern mathematics is a subject that invents abstract concepts... Historically numbers were invented to solve a practical need, and then some hobbyists came and had too much fun with it, ending up with funny things like Peano and ZFC. I've seen too many people trained in mathematics that forgot the social-historical context came first, and jump straight to the newly invented axiomatic systems to explain things as basic as 1+1=2, which to me doesn't fit well with the "ultimate get-to-the-bottom-of-things" description. I mean, to cite a specific example, while the exercise is probably entertaining to some, anyone seriously believing 2+2=4 requires thousands of lines of "proof" is probably not very good at getting to the bottom of things in a general sense. (ref: http://us.metamath.org/mpegif/mmset.html#trivia http://us.metamath.org/mpegif/mmset.html#trivia )

hnfong 4y ago

> Hopefully, not all Chinese engineers think that... :) The main point of divergence between "Western Capitalism" and "Socialism with Chinese characteristics" isn't whether it's ok to accumulate capital, but who controls it :) I think both agree that capital is a great idea for building strong nations. > Not according to much of the history of math. Mathematics was borne of practical needs, and it has been extremely useful in science and engineering. (Sure, you can think of the number 2, say, as an abstract concept, but to most people it is a very concrete thing - as is the definite integral, etc.) I agree, and... that's kind of my point. I intended to say modern mathematics is a subject that invents abstract concepts... Historically numbers were invented to solve a practical need, and then some hobbyists came and had too much fun with it, ending up with funny things like Peano and ZFC. I've seen too many people trained in mathematics that forgot the social-historical context came first, and jump straight to the newly invented axiomatic systems to explain things as basic as 1+1=2, which to me doesn't fit well with the "ultimate get-to-the-bottom-of-things" description. I mean, to cite a specific example, while the exercise is probably entertaining to some, anyone seriously believing 2+2=4 requires thousands of lines of "proof" is probably not very good at getting to the bottom of things in a general sense. (ref: http://us.metamath.org/mpegif/mmset.html#trivia http://us.metamath.org/mpegif/mmset.html#trivia )