The Logic Off Topic list

Thoughts from the mind of maakbow@..., 10-11-2001:

>--- In logic-ot@y..., GAmoore@a... wrote:
>>  >>  > Mathematicians are very much artists.
>>  >
>>  >Some mathematicians, yes.  Most are however just plain dull 9-5
>>  >office workers.
>>
>>  Oh come on! Just because you can't see the fruits of their labor,
>doesn't
>>  mean it isn't beautiful.
>
>Surely the FRUITS of their labours might be beautiful, but how can
>maths be abstact.

How can maths be abstract?  Maths _is_ abstract...  Or did you mean 
"beautiful" instead of abstract?  Well: beauty is in the eye of the 
beholder...  Certainly for me certain mathematics can be a pure 
esthetic pleasure.

>sure music can be described in purely mathematical terms,

No, it can't.  The essence of music is it's... "quality"... the fact 
that it moves you, makes you shiver or weep... and that essence can't 
be described in mathematical terms.  The only thing you can describe 
mathematically is its "surface structure" -- which pitch goes where 
for how long -- but that's about as meaningful as describing a great 
painting with a list of numbers, enumerating the exact RGB-values for 
every "pixel" in the painting.  Such a list will never reveal to you 
why the Mona Lisa is... well.. the Mona Lisa :).

>but maths certainly doesn't move me emotionly, whereas music certainly does.

Which is not an argument for anything.  The fact that it doesn't move 
_you_ is of no consequence to the people who _do_ get moved my 
beautiful abstractions...

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Is that a crude attempt at describing, in mathematical terms, the 
Mona Lisa?  LOL!

cheers,
HJ
-- 
     Hendrik Jan Veenstra
     email: mailto:h@...
     www:   http://www.ision.nl/users/h/index.html