Larks comments on Open Thread: January 2010 - Less Wrong

5 Post author: Kaj_Sotala 01 January 2010 05:02PM

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Comment author: Larks 11 January 2010 11:45:31PM 0 points [-]

Is pointless topology ever relevant?

Comment author: Christian_Szegedy 11 January 2010 11:57:03PM 0 points [-]

Yes, it is relevant to algebraic geometry, which is important for the treatment of down-to-earth problems in number theory.

Comment author: Douglas_Knight 12 January 2010 03:01:50AM 0 points [-]

Is pointless topology ever relevant?

Yes, it is relevant to algebraic geometry, which is important for the treatment of down-to-earth problems in number theory.

I think you're confusing topos theory with pointless topology. The latter is a fragment of the former and a different fragment is used in algebraic geometry. As I understand it, the main point of pointless topology is to rephrase arguments to avoid the use of the axiom of choice (which is needed to choose points). That is certainly a noble goal and relevant to down-to-earth problems, but not so many in number theory.