| > But there's no computation happening to it. It's static. There are three possible answers to this: The binary string itself is a form of computation, with 1's being upwards fluctuation and 0's being downwards fluctuations. Something like a Boltzmann Brain. Second, Zuse-style, the universe itself could be a computer: A Turing-complete cellular automata, acting on the input formed by a random process. Third, our universe may be mental and the binary forms mental states. > This is true whether or not a human is there to observe it and count them. This may be true, only because human brains made it true. Objects, like apples, or apple trees, are somewhat arbitrary selections of parts of the universe (The human chose to wall off a certain subset of everything). With a little imagination you could see the apple on the ground and the tree it fell from as one object. Why is a hair on my head part of the object "me", but the moment I pull it out, it becomes its own object? What if the apple on the ground rots away and turns to mush? Is it still its own countable object? What if a cow eats the four apples? Is there now no object, one object, or still four objects? Your view is much closer to reasonable than mine though, because to prove that maths is a mental construct, I have to invoke scientific unpopular views, like intuitionism (maths is an advanced form of Wittgenstein's language games) or Indian/Asian mysticism (make me one with everything). But the reason that intuitionism is unpopular, is not because we found it to be objectively untrue, but because of the very human element of Hilbert hating Brouwer's guts. If Brouwer had more clout then we may see the Law of excluded middle as untrue or unprovable, as it stands, we entered Hilbert's timeline where this law is deemed objectively true even outside of minds. Then again, my view has no problem with "Spooky action at a distance", because I am not required to view two electrons as separate objects, and distance between arbitrary subsets is relative (owes its value) to the chosen metric, location and measurement equipment of observers. If the sun rises I can capture this with maths and prove to you that the sun is not going down. But I forgot to add "the sun rises to me", I forgot the creative power of observation: Because for someone on the other side of earth the sun is going down. For someone in space the sun may not appear to move at all. |