Re: virus: Memetic evolution

Vicki Rosenzweig (rosenzweig@NY.hq.acm.org)
Fri, 22 Mar 1996 12:56:00 -0800 (PST)

I'm not a mathematician, and it's been at least ten years since
I really looked at this, but Godel's Theorem has to do with
formal systems (specifically, those of a certain complexity:
arithmetic is this formal, but some simple logics aren't), and
the Universe we live in isn't (probably) a formal system.

Vicki Rosenzweig
rosenzweig@hq.acm.org
----------
From: virus-owner
To: virus
Subject: Re: virus: Memetic evolution
Date: Friday, March 22, 1996 9:39AM

On Sat, 23 Mar 1996, Mitchell Porter wrote:

> "There are no eternal truths" - is that an eternal truth itself?
>
> I've sometimes heard it said that "every scientific theory is replaced
> eventually", but I see no reason to suppose that this will always be so.

Okay, I'm really speaking out of my league here, but didn't Godel's
Incompleteness Theorem assert something to the effect that no system of
human thought could ever be both complete and without self-contradiction?

If this is the case, then I suspect that we will at least continue
refining our scientific theories for as long as we exist.

--Jay

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jwt@dana.ucc.nau.edu
http://dana.ucc.nau.edu/~jwt
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