"oldcoot" wrote in message...
...
Quoth "Socratus" on the Primacy of Math uber alles syndrome :

Now mathematics goes ahead of science and physics follows it.
Mathematicians carry the posters:“Forward to abstraction”,
“Forward to the absurd” and we all follow them.
We march bravely on the dinosaur’s path.
================.
Best wishes.
Israel Sadovnik. / Socratus.

:-)

Oh, no no no! I'm not going to let you *or* Socratus
off *that* easy! g

I'll be the first to admit that your "primacy of math"
premise has a ring of truth to it. The great radiologist,
chemist and physicist, Marie Curie once quipped...

"There are sadistic scientists who hurry to hunt down
errors instead of establishing the truth."

And nowadays, there just isn't enough of this "hunting
down errors". We need more of her "sadistic scientists"
who are, in reality, "sadistic skeptics". Unlike the great
and illustrious Madame Curie, i believe that the skeptics
are absolutely required in "establishing the truth".

In theoretical physics, cosmology, astrophysics and that
most esoteric quantum mechanics, math has led to many
great discoveries. There have been several dead ends,
too, and yes, science is still "circling" in some of these
"attractive" cul de sacs.

And yet, mathematicians are like road workers. They
build the road in a certain direction, while others follow
the road to wherever it may lead. And while many of
their roads are dead ends, and while many of these cul
de sacs are attractive and difficult to *see* as the dead
ends they are, some of the roads *do* lead to the truth.

If math is "primal", it's because that's the nature of the
beast. Without math, science would have no idea which
way to go. It's better to have a road to follow, and to
maybe find truth at the end of the road, than it would be
to not have any road at all.

The physical reality is... there would be no "creature
comforts", no computers, no internet/UseNet, none of
the great scientific feats that we take for granted, if it
were not for the "primacy of math"!

I am not a mathematician, not even close. However, i
do recognize the crucial importance of mathematicians,
both those who study the beauty of the pure, and those
who tackle the practical and useful "applied" math. It
is my contention that there are no greater scientists on
Earth than these lovers and users of mathematics!

In a way, they're like cops and firemen. The rest of us
run away from crime, fire, and from ugh! math. The
mathematicians run *toward* the very math we find
ugly. While they are all "certifiable", crazy, insane(!), g
they are all to be venerated and praised! Firemen,
Cops and, yes, Mathematicians!

T H E UNSUNG S A L T O F T H E E A R T H !

happy days and...
starry starry nights!

--
Indelibly yours,
Paine Ellsworth

P.S. "Nothing in life is to be feared, it is only to be
understood. Now is the time to understand more,
so that we may fear less."
Marie Curie--chemist & physicist

P.P.S.: http://yummycake.secretsgolden.com
http://garden-of-ebooks.blogspot.com
http://painellsworth.net