Revisiting Landsburg “The Big Questions” i find bits and pieces kind of annoying. Landsburg is obsessed with math and placing math on the highest pedestal of knowledge . I do like him, and think he’s a clever guy, but i’m not sure why he thinks things like numbers exist independent human thought or why the universe and everything in it, is merely some mathematical algorithm
is it of any import? would it matter if that was true versus if that was false?
Does our greatest gift, curiosity, care about that?
there may be things of import to get curious about, but I’m cool with peoples hobbies, enjoy!
I enjoy Lansburg and I liked that book; I too place metaphysical weight on mathematics. If there is one aspect of human knowledge that I believe can buttress an argument for a transcendental, Platonic reality, then it is mathematics.
If humans never instantiated the thought “2 + 2 = 4” in the neurocomputational hardware of our brains, would that logical necessity still exist? If so, in what ontological sense? Is math created or discovered?
These questions are supremely important to Austrians who privilege a priori reasoning.
- *There was a young man who said "God*
- *Must find it exceedingly odd*
- *To think that the tree*
- *Should continue to be*
- *When there's no one about in the quad."*
- *"Dear Sir: Your astonishment's odd;*
- I *am* always *about in the quad.*
- *And that's why the tree*
- *Will continue to be*
- *Since observed by, Yours faithfully, God."*