4 ms·
A good line of questioning is to explore the constants that arise in physics, of which there are nineteen[3]. E.g. "Why is the speed of light what it is?". ~3
by grumblingdev 3y ago
A good line of questioning is to explore the constants that arise in physics, of which there are nineteen[3].
E.g. "Why is the speed of light what it is?".
~300,000,000 meters per second. But the definition of a meter is actually defined by the speed of light, so this number is very human-math-specific.
So instead, you want to look at the speed of light in terms of other physical constants to find a "dimensionless" constant.
This leads us to the fine-structure constant[1], which is a single number that pops out when you relate a few of these experimentally measured constants to each other.
0.0072973525693 ≃ 1/137
This is a number that if any different would mean the universe would not exist in the way it does.
Something very human is the notion of "1". Counting things is very important to intelligent life.
I was thinking the other day, about the world from the perspective of a tree. It doesn't care about counting things. So "1" is irrelevant to it. It's an invented concept by humans.
And most of our mathematical thinking is based around this.
There could be an infinitely deeper and more complicated maths to explain things.
It's like looking at a leaf without a microscope to figure out biological processes. Until the 1600s, biologists could only study what their eyes could see.
All this quantum randomness feels like we are still just looking at a leaf with our eyes.
[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fine-structure_constant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fine-structure_constant
[2]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimensionless_physical_constant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimensionless_physical_constan...
[3]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_constant#Number_of_fundamental_constants https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_constant#Number_of_fu...
- joe__f 3y agoHow do you know that trees don't care about counting things? Have you ever been a tree?
- chaoticmass 3y agoPlants may not have a concept of numbers or math, but they seem to follow mathematical patterns regardless. https://thatsmaths.com/2014/06/05/sunflowers-and-fibonacci-models-of-efficiency/ https://thatsmaths.com/2014/06/05/sunflowers-and-fibonacci-m...