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79 points

the point isn’t to prove that the triangle is a triangle it’s to prove that the system of mathematics you made up actually works

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30 points

hey! get out of here with your math!!

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16 points

Math is for commies

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9 points

Godless, Commie Scientific Socialism

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3 points

Commie nerds

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3 points

Help! He’s logicing all over us!

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17 points

Until you prove that you can’t prove that the system you made up works.

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3 points

Nobody is practically concerned with the “incompleteness” aspect of Gödel’s theorems. The unprovable statements are so pathological/contrived that it doesn’t appear to suggest any practical statement might be unprovable. Consistency is obviously more important. Sufficiently weak systems may also not be limited by the incompleteness theorems, i.e. they can be proved both complete and consistent.

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1 point

I think the statement “this system is consistent” is a practical statement that is unprovable in a sufficiently powerful consistent system.

Can you help me understand the tone of your text? To me it sounds kinda hostile as if what you said is some kind of gotcha.

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1 point

Oh, what if the Riemann hypothesis is such a statement then? Or any other mathematical statement. We may not have any use for them now, but as with all things math, they are sometimes useful somewhere unexpected.

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1 point

Then it doesn’t work

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5 points

No, see Gödels Incompleteness theorem

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2 points

It’s very counter intuitive. As the other commenter suggested I was referring to Gödel and his incompleteness theorem.

Actually if the system you made up doesn’t work it would be possible to prove that it does inside that system as you can prove anything inside a system that doesn’t work.

That is why my comment is not entirely accurate it should actually be: Until you prove that if the system works you can’t prove that the system works.

Can you spot the difference in the logic here?

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5 points

You just reminded me of having to prove that math signs work and do what they do from basic axioms to integers and rational numbers using logical proofs… Damn that was interesting but SO tedious…

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1 point

Well, at that level I think it’s more to show you know how to prove it. You’re working under the assumption the axioms of the system you’ve been told work.

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