Created Saturday 20 March 2021
- I was thinking of math today, and wondered: does math/logic and happiness go together. Can I build a happy social system based on math and science.
- It seemed to me that this should be true. But, I grew fearlful that none of the human/happy values/ideas "are" actually complete/accurate. Also morality of any sort is unprovable/irrelevant to science and thinking in general. It was things we believed, not proved. This was an idea I had garnered from many people, who were good at compromise, which I hated, and still do.
- I thought of my incessant need to figure things out as a liability for this system. And my need to prove that society is really good to be a dark idea.
- I then looked at the data(being a science guy):
- Dark times/criminal activities - racism, sexism, genocide has resulted from hate/presumed poverty/false beliefs. If we though more rationally, we'd have avoided this.
- Good times - science showed us that we are all connected, come from a common ancestor. It showed us that plants and animals do have feelings. It showed us that we should care for the environment. Evolution helped us understand why we are happy in communities. Science showed us how dangerous it was to accept unproven things, especially good ones, because they are difficult to ignore(all of us have hesitations when someone speaks of an idea as a necessary moral). Thinking such as this has created false concepts such as "chosen-people", "good-people vs bad people", etc.
- Also reality is very amazing. And it would be a waste if we were to ignore it.
- Mathematics and critical thinking, is the(currently) language for doing science, for testing ideas.
- Mathematics can be proved, invented and be used for doing stuff.
- I remembered Richard Feynman's words - "the truth is so remarkable, so amazing". His happy thoughts provide a cover against my guilt and fear(of the unknown).
- Keeping this feeling of discovery alive is strongly connected to curiosity(or is curiosity), which no doubt, has bought us this far.
- I read about Abel Prize 2021, the kind of work Avi did is amazing. A good observation, in my opinion, is to understand that such ideas can only be kept and nurtured if you are peaceful, happy and in a supporting environment. You believe the stuff is good.
- I had thought 7 hours before that me pursuing these ideas would lead to catastrophe, "fall of society", if you will.
- I also realized that I had damaged sense of self: I didn't believe in myself, a sureshot recepie for destruction.
- I came to the conclusion that I had to keep my thinking original, and it will be good. I'm unable to prove this, at the moment. I believe humans are good, even if this is not always the case.
- In fact, doing science has brought us out of poverty: of all kinds - material, fear, stinginess, feudal nature etc. It has paved the way for what we call morality. Old tribes were not friendly, and we can understand it a bit - diseases could spread, things could be stolen. I'm not sure if they really did out of poverty or malintent. I guess poverty is more likely.
@mathDoubts
- I was solving the problem 1/2+1/4+1/8+...+1/2^k^, → ∞.
- I refused to use the GP sum formula or limits. I wanted to solve it without it.
- I used the example of a round pie, filling half of the unfilled space at all points in time. I started with an empty circle. I kept filling.
- While I was drawing(filling), a doubt crept about the remaining small part, is it really zero, or is it a calculatable number, however small.
- So I wrote 1 as: (1/2)+1/2 → (1/2 + 1/4) + 1/4 → (1/2+1/4+1/8) + 1/8 → So on until I had the sum + 1/2^k^. If I did this indefinitely, I would surely get zero.
- This is a constructive proof - and I invented it. I solved a seemingly impossible problem by creating the solution.
- I then asked: The same is true for mathematics and science. Mathematics is an endeavor we created, from basic stuff like counting cattles to purely theoretic stuff(or so it seemed) like imaginary numbers, negative numbers, improper fractions etc. It is amazing that none of the "theorertical" stuff is actually useless, in fact, it has been demonstrated time and again that we need structures(and their understanding) for solving both real problems and puzzles we solve.
- This demonstrated that my question: "I love math, but can I pursue it happily" is a good question, and the answer is a resounding yes!!
- Another problem haunted me: why do I always make myself uncomfortable, why don't I just do something just for the sake of fun.
- This is actually a serious problem with me, I accept it. I shall have fun.
- But another question is: does doubting your passion destroy it as a passion. I believe no, because we all had to go through doubts, challenges on our curiosity etc. We still want to be happy. So even if I wasted time on thinking whether logical thinking is good, I am still in great shape.
- Also, I don't care if a catastrophe strikes, because it does, even if you are being blind. I can only assure I've no malintent, that's all I can do.
Read: A Mathematician's Lament
- If someone asks(including me): Are you a good person? - I'm not evil.
- In the phrase, "Don't be evil", solves much of the guilt and waste of time.
- A question: how will you do good things - well I do it on my own accord.
- This also solves the issue of freedom, due to the collective good of the society. I'm not obliged. I don't have to leave my stuff, stop living my life, just because a group of people think I'm not right. Getting here took time, but it's a good thing this happened.
Don't be evil😎️