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Re: Ariadne's thread
Posted:
Aug 14, 2012 2:37 AM
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(Before returning to the Rhind Mathematical Payrus,
let me post a piece on language that will shed light
on the place of mathematics)
scope and emblematic map of language
(ideas from 1963 onward)
Language, basically, is the means of getting help,
support and understanding from those we depend upon
in one way or another, and every means of getting help,
support and understanding may be called language,
on whatever level of life it occurs ...
In my opinion, language is a basic feature of life,
and may be considered the intelligence of life -
using language we achieve more than we would
achieve all on our own. Language allows us to
make more of the available energy, intelligence
and energy perhaps being related, or even
equivalents. Look out for intelligent solutions
and you can save energy, or make better use
of the available amount of energy.
Human word language evolved with our tools and
the many things we fabricate and the more and more
artificial surroundings we live in. Satisfying our needs
and fulfilling our wishes in an artificial world requires
that we can explain our situation, evoke our conditions,
describe our part and side of the world in order to
justify the satisfaction of our needs and fulfillment
of our wishes.
We describe the world in different ways, the ultimate
positions being mathematics based on the formula
a = a
and poetry based on the wider logic of art and life
and nature as formulated by Goethe
all is equal, all unequal ...
Mathematics may be regarded as the logic of building
and maintaining, while art provides the human measure
in a technical world we inhabit and shape along our
nature and needs and wishes and innate abilities.
If I were to propose an emblematic map of language
I'd mention a triangle whose corners are life and art
and mathematics.
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