From owner-qed Sat Nov 5 19:37:19 1994 Received: from localhost (listserv@localhost) by antares.mcs.anl.gov (8.6.4/8.6.4) id TAA03161 for qed-out; Sat, 5 Nov 1994 19:34:27 -0600 Received: from earth.anu.edu.au (earth.anu.edu.au [150.203.20.5]) by antares.mcs.anl.gov (8.6.4/8.6.4) with SMTP id TAA03156 for ; Sat, 5 Nov 1994 19:34:17 -0600 Received: by earth.anu.edu.au id AA00904 (5.67b/IDA-1.5 for qed@mcs.anl.gov); Sun, 6 Nov 1994 12:33:51 +1100 Received: from Messages.8.5.N.CUILIB.3.45.SNAP.NOT.LINKED.earth.sun4.51 via MS.5.6.earth.sun4_51; Sun, 6 Nov 1994 12:33:49 +1100 (EST) Message-Id: <0ij39x2KmlE503Tl40@earth> Date: Sun, 6 Nov 1994 12:33:49 +1100 (EST) From: Zdzislaw Meglicki To: debruijn@win.tue.nl (N.G. de Bruijn) Subject: Re: Intuition about Freiling's axiom Cc: qed@mcs.anl.gov In-Reply-To: References: Sender: owner-qed@mcs.anl.gov Precedence: bulk Although it is certainly true that much in our description of the world and in our mathematics is incomplete and perhaps even partially incorrect, the success of mathematics in the description of the real world is hardly undeserved. For Nature herself engraved on our minds the basic mathematical notions pertaining to the Universe we live in over billions of years of natural evolution. Animals without any mathematical training, education or culture are perfectly capable of recognising basic geometrical notions and relations in their neighbourhood. They are also perfectly capable of using "greater then" relation in assessing potential danger or sources of food. They can count and recognise equivalence classes on the basis of number of elements. If mankind took those skills further, and pushed them hard almost to the limits of what a biological finite mind can achieve is a quantitative rather than a qualitative difference. The power of intuition is the power of Nature that is a secret hidden asset in everyone of us. If all else fails, shut your eyes and "use the Force, Luke the Skywalker!" -- use your intuition! Lack of intuition is the main reason why it is so immensely difficult to teach computers anything. Best regards and greetings from Down Under, Zdzislaw Meglicki, Zdzislaw.Meglicki@cisr.anu.edu.au, Parallel Computing Research Facility, CISR && Plasma Theory Group, RSPhysSE The Australian National University, Canberra, A.C.T., 0200, Australia, fax: +61-6-249-0747, tel: +61-6-249-0158