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jacinthebox comments on Proofs, Implications, and Models - Less Wrong
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Yeah, when it starts with "You may have read philosophy trying to score points by saying", it doesn't mean the writer endorses it.
I'm sorry if I wasn't clear. I endorse the "cynical view" that mathematics is fundamentally symbol manipulation. Fundamental in the sense that mathematics as we currently know it can be completely described by symbol manipulation without having to resort to notions such as "intuition." Eliezer, apparently, disagrees with this philosophy on the grounds that it is robbing mathematics of something which he finds aesthetically pleasing.
Also, read through this thread. I'm pretty sure Eliezer's in agreement with you.
Now, exactly how was this post a moving and nonsensical emotional appeal?
I don't consider the post to be an emotional appeal, just the phrase "and this activity of string-manipulation is all there is to what mathematicians call "theorem-proving" - all there is to the glorious human endeavor of mathematics." I mean, there is essentially no content there. Just a rough outline of a philosophy, and then not even a legitimate attack on it, just a "if they are right, then mathematics doesn't seem glorious to me any longer!"