This sort of feels like "computers can only run machine code, but no-one ever really writes that. It would take forever!" So how does anything run? Because we work in higher abstractions most of the time, with the thing that actually works underpinning them. (Not a mathematician)
"Oh, of course no one ever really *does* it..." A compressed version of my own confusion as a maths student: https://personalpages.manchester.ac.uk/staff/hung.bui/ideal.pdf …pic.twitter.com/ooasn01bfe
-
-
-
Yeah, I'd say the main differences are a) maths had a massive crisis in foundations in the early 20th c, so weird stuff happens in the 'machine code' layer anyway...
- 1 more reply
New conversation -
-
-
So it really is handwaving all the way down? This sentiment is amusingly close to the stereotypical physicist's defense of a low-rigor derivation.
-
I think this is part of why I ended up moving to physics, at least they're honest about it!
End of conversation
New conversation -
-
-
This Tweet is unavailable.
-
Weirdly I can't get into Hofstadter, something about the whimsical style... I got through the Bach bits of GEB but couldn't face the rest. Everyone else seems to love it though!
End of conversation
-
-
-
no mathematician, much less an ideal one, would call formal logic "abstract nonsense" -- that's category theory (according to the Saunders MacLane, co-founder of category theory) oh god i'm a math stan
Thanks. Twitter will use this to make your timeline better. UndoUndo
-
Loading seems to be taking a while.
Twitter may be over capacity or experiencing a momentary hiccup. Try again or visit Twitter Status for more information.