On Mon, Jun 18, 2018 at 01:25 Dr Russell Standish wrote:
> "But presumably the argument is about certain cognitive skills which helped our species be extraordinarily successful, and also gave us the capability to understand algebraic topology."
I've always found it a bit mysterious that humans are so good at abstract mathematics. I can see that the evolutionary pressures to improve tool making and hunting skills could have given us basic mathematical capabilities - but we are far better at it than seems reasonable. i.e. it seems a stretch to imagine our ability to understand differential equations and prove Fermat's last theorem just fell into place as an accidental by product of something else.
It seems to me that a lot of complex engineering in our brains must exist to support the level of abstract reasoning we are capable of - and I don't see much evolutionary advantage to explain how this evolved.
We are familiar with the idea that a large multiverse could explain the apparent fine tuning of our universe to support conscious observers. I.e. given we are conscious observers it shouldn't be surprising that we find ourselves in a part of the multiverse that allows our existence.
However, right now we aren't just conscious observers, we are conscious observers pondering the unreasonable effectiveness of brains to do mathematics. Maybe similarly to the fine tuning argument we shouldn't be surprised to find ourselves in a part of the multiverse where brains did develop mathematical ability. It would have been extremely unlikely for our brains to have evolved the way they did - but in a sufficiently large multiverse we will inevitably find ourselves in the place where it did - given that we are observer moments that must have exactly that kind of abstract reasoning capability to understand this point!
Is it valid to use this kind of reasoning? To use the details of the type of conscious experience we are having right now to condition the type of universe we expect to find ourselves in? I'm not sure to be honest - but I think there is a mystery to be explained so the idea is appealing.
Note if it's true that evolving mathematical capability was a long shot, then a consequence of it would be that it would be very unlikely that we find technologically advanced aliens in the observable universe. There are a lot of stars out there - but the small probability of brains evolving abstract reasoning would overwhelm that I suspect.
- Steven Ridgway
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Dr Russell Standish Phone 0425 253119 (mobile)
Principal, High Performance Coders
Visiting Senior Research Fellow
hpc...@hpcoders.com.au
Economics, Kingston University
http://www.hpcoders.com.au
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