merjet Posted July 9, 2019 Report Share Posted July 9, 2019 The Peculiar Math That Could Underlie the Laws of Nature https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-octonion-math-that-could-underpin-physics-20180720/ Grames 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grames Posted July 10, 2019 Report Share Posted July 10, 2019 Thanks for the link. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrictlyLogical Posted July 11, 2019 Report Share Posted July 11, 2019 “forces and particles that comprise reality spring logically from the properties of eight-dimensional numbers” Remind anyone of the Pythagoreans? I do think discovering the abstractions which are math that we can use to help describe and predict reality, the referent of the abstraction math, are great and wonderful. But we should always keep in mind what the relationship of math, thought, and abstractions to reality actually is. dream_weaver 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merjet Posted July 11, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 11, 2019 (edited) 7 hours ago, StrictlyLogical said: “forces and particles that comprise reality spring logically from the properties of eight-dimensional numbers” Remind anyone of the Pythagoreans? I do think discovering the abstractions which are math that we can use to help describe and predict reality, the referent of the abstraction math, are great and wonderful. But we should always keep in mind what the relationship of math, thought, and abstractions to reality actually is. I agree. I think the sentence you partly quoted would be better if it were: The suspicion, harbored by many physicists and mathematicians over the decades but rarely actively pursued, is that the properties of the peculiar panoply of forces and particles that comprise reality spring logically from the properties of eight-dimensional numbers called “octonions.” (my bold). Edited July 11, 2019 by merjet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StrictlyLogical Posted July 11, 2019 Report Share Posted July 11, 2019 I’d go a little farther and modify it as The suspicion, harbored by many physicists and mathematicians over the decades but rarely actively pursued, is that an accurate description of the properties exhibited by the peculiar panoply of forces and particles of reality may be so easily derived springs logically from the properties of eight-dimensional numbers called “octonions”, that one could characterize the description as springing logically from them. ... just to clarify properties of reality do not spring from numbers, although numbers can be used to refer to reality. merjet 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
merjet Posted July 11, 2019 Author Report Share Posted July 11, 2019 My second try: The suspicion, harbored by many physicists and mathematicians over the decades but rarely actively pursued, is that a description of the properties exhibited by the peculiar panoply of forces and particles of reality may be so accurately depicted by eight-dimensional numbers called “octonions.” StrictlyLogical 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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