Russ Abbott wrote circa 04/25/2010 02:45 PM: > Does knowledge generated by any so-called "pure science" promote species > survival? Only by chance, it seems. Besides why should improved species > survival be related to the possibility of interesting theorems? The > importance to us of a domain is certainly a function of its role in > species survival. But why does that suggest that the domain is likely to > give rise to sophisticated mathematics? I don't see the connection.
You can only talk about why the structure of any rhetoric _works_ if you explicitly ask what the rhetoric is used for. We use languages, including math, to describe our experiences of the world. Vague touchy feely languages like English are best at describing the vague touchy feely stuff that goes on in our bodies. Those languages have to be good at expressing that stuff. Other languages, like math, are best at describing procedures that we intend to be mimicked in other times and other places, by other entities (including machines). They are not so good at the touchy feely description of experiences, but very good at communicating repeatable procedures. Sophisticated math rhetoric arises and persists more easily in domains that consist largely of repeatable procedures. But that doesn't mean that such rhetoric cannot arise and persist in domains that don't easily submit to such procedure. All it takes is enough participants, all speaking the same (or similar) language and the rhetoric for that domain will eventually cohere and stabilize. Again, though, it will only be as stable as the carrier population that participates. Hence, as the carrier population evolves, the efficiency with which the rhetoric moves between individuals dictates the evolution of the rhetoric. Procedures (like counting) that hop easily between individuals persist (and are probably continually re-invented). Procedures (like showing the convergence of an infinite series) that have less efficient transfer from human to human, risk being lost. So, it's not that any particular rhetoric promotes species survival. It's that the species we're talking about is wired for language and some rhetoric is more transferable than other rhetoric. -- glen e. p. ropella, 971-222-9095, http://tempusdictum.com ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
