From: Ben Heaton (factitious@gmail.com)
Date: Sat Jan 21 2006 - 02:23:40 MST
On 1/20/06, Marc Geddes <m_j_geddes@yahoo.com.au> wrote:
> It's also a dogma that mathematical truth is eternal
> (time independent). I see no reason why this should
> be so. Suppose that mathematical truth can in fact,
> shift slightly with time?
Just to check: is this related to the idea that, for example, Fermat's
Last Theorem was not true until a proof for it was discovered?
If your idea is something more meaningful than that, then can you give
an example of a mathematical claim that you think has even a slight
metaphysical possibility of being time-dependent? I'm not asking for
an example of one that definitely is, just one where it wouldn't be
obviously ridiculous to believe that it might be. All the examples of
mathematical theorems I can think of lack any indexical references to
times, but if you know of something I'm overlooking, I'd like to learn
about it.
(I'm assuming that you aren't just talking about stuff like "The
current year is a prime number," which was true in 2003, but is false
now.)
-Ben Heaton
-- No sale, honcho!
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.5 : Wed Jul 17 2013 - 04:00:55 MDT