ellis@flairvax.UUCP (Michael Ellis) (07/17/83)
I repeat Krzysztof's apology to this newsgroup, but perhaps this
discussion really belongs not in net.math, but in the nonexistent
net.metaphysics. I would have sent this to net.religion, were it not
for the insane raving there.
Many people (including myself) are guilty of applying Goedel's
theorem where its use is totally unjustified.
For centuries, our computationally-oriented culture seems to
have believed that everything in the universe (if only in theory) can
be expressed in rigorous mathematical language, with a fair amount of
success, I might add. This seems to be THE durable religion in the
occidental world.
It's clear that once a phenomenon has been shown to be a 'formal
system' (even if all the details are not known), the full force of
Goedelian arguments may be brought into play.
Does anyone know whether the implications of quantum mechanics
preclude the possibility of the universe being a 'formal system' ?
-michael