johnlawrenceaspden comments on Rationality Quotes April 2014 - LessWrong

8 Post author: elharo 07 April 2014 05:25PM

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Comment author: johnlawrenceaspden 15 April 2014 11:53:36PM 4 points [-]

This is beautiful: I can't turn it into equations. Does that refute it or support it?

Comment author: The_Duck 19 April 2014 06:53:00AM 1 point [-]

I can't turn it into equations.

Did you try? Each sentence in the quote could easily be expressed in some formal system like predicate calculus or something.

Comment author: [deleted] 25 April 2014 08:54:43PM *  -1 points [-]

There are symbol-juxtapositions which are syntactically or semantically disconnected from any model set in ZFC. There are no sets in ZFC which are similarly separated from statements in a suitable language.

Comment author: johnlawrenceaspden 26 April 2014 10:11:35AM 0 points [-]

This looks like the sort of thing that I usually find enlightening, but I don't understand it. Could you repeat it in baby-speak?

Comment author: [deleted] 03 May 2014 11:51:52AM 1 point [-]

You can write nonsense formulas on paper which don't correspond to theorems about anything. You can't construct nonsense universes which aren't described by theorems anywhere.

Words only mean anything because we interpret them to correspond to the real world. In the absence of words, the real world continues existing.