[PLUG-TALK] "In the realm of the provable, name one infinite thing"

[Ronald Chmara]

On Feb 10, 2009, at 7:02 PM, Keith Lofstrom wrote:
> But to answer the original question, one infinite thing is
> human stupidity.

<pedantic>
You are constrained by the thought that defines "human" as an  
infinitely continuing set (which would be a pre-requisite for their  
"human stupidity" being non-finite).

There is very little evidence that *any* animal species, let alone  
homo sapiens sapiens (I assume this is what you meant by "human"),  
has survived billions of years, or will survive for mere billions  
more, as the same "species".
</pedantic>

(Yes, I got the joke, I'm just playing with it.)

In a non-cheeky way, this is part of what Gšdel (et al) was getting  
at, that our very ideas and thoughts are constrained by the things we  
understand, or can formalize, but *because* our ways of thinking and  
formalization were often so constrained to "our current rules", we  
can not always reasonably or accurately discuss things far outside of  
our current parameters of understanding.

Let's take, oh, lowly pi (¹), 3.1415(etc.)

Now, assume a universe where ¹ is still a constant.... of 7.42 (of  
our existing decimal units). That alters things... a bit. For one, it  
messes with the whole idea of a "circle", as we currently know it,  
let alone things like estimating gravitational pull, or even how to  
draw a smiley face.

Or, even better, assume a universe (or way of thinking) where the  
decimal value of ¹ historically varied based on other factors, such  
as belief (and we currently live in that universe, interestingly  
enough).

Our core assumptions are (and might always be) incomplete, and are  
based on our (likely finite) understanding, which pretty much sets an  
upper limit on our ability to understand things outside of that scope.

Bringing it back to PLUG-worthy topics: This is why variables are  
best local in scope. You can't ever really trust that *anything*  
"global" is really a CONSTANT, or consistent, or "TRUE" for a given  
context. :)

-Bop