Ok. Let´s go.
[First of all: Please read the post to the very end so you can have a full grasp on my argument here. Understand that I´m not saying that mathematics is useless, but I do have a problem with some of the ways it is advertised and used. If you do enjoy and read my posts and also enjoy the subjects I´m discussing here, that´s fine, I´m not telling anyone to quit or anything, this is my personal view and take, and nobody have to agree with it.]
Mathematics. If there´s one thing people think it´s smart, is doing math. And for some part, it is indeed quite interesting.
But I have some problems, mostly when some people (those who love math) have some problems with criticism against math. Have you seen it already?
It starts quite innocently, really. Sometimes I find myself in the mood for some research and then I end up at some math website, and I do find some problems to be very cool. But when I go out in my curiosity about the meaning of what is being presented to me, and what are their applications and relations to my existence, I find very little of the sort. So I search out for blogs and websites about it, and boy do I see some interesting "answers" and "retorts" to these kinds of question.
Most of all they are not much answers as they flat out insults to those who dare question the importance of supreme Goddess Mathematics.
I have the feeling that even if God existed and descended out of the heavens and said that he is not very fond of math, mathematicians and math majors would scorn the hell out of him in the most incredible booing of all history:
"Get out of here, you buffoon! What do you mean you don´t like math! You´re not my god, that´s for sure!"
I gotta say, math people sure are fierce about their subject.
Ever heard this one?
"Mathematics is the language of the universe."
Wow. The amount of hubris contained on this is capable of making gods ashamed. God forbid you ever say anything against math, under the penalty of being accused as an incompetent buffoon. I actually want this to be rather clearly stated here: If you open your mouth to say anything, anything that is not an appraisal of mathematics, you´re going to get personally attacked and scorned at. And I mean really. Not that it happened to me, because I don´t even register myself on any forums that deal with this, but boy do I see it. And isn´t it ridiculous? Isn´t it almost cult like behavior?
And the smugness. Oh, man, the smug! It´s poisonous.
People believe that math is beyond criticism, complete, perfect.
My problem is when it spills at some sort of philosophical discussion, or when someone tries to see some philosophy, some meaning within it, and fails, because, let´s face it, math is void of meaning. And when they do point out that it is meaningless, they get attacked and this pisses me off. It always have, and I figured it´s about time I said something about it.
WHY PEOPLE ARE ENTHRALLED BY MATH.
Math was and is important to us because we can control stuff. We can measure, count, etc. The importance in math lies within this very need. We never evolved quite much beyond that, really. We still need prediction abilities, planning and controlling, specially dealing with money, which is like the ultimate value our 'capitalist' society is based on at large. So we regard math dearly because it has its place in our lives. A specific place.
But then, mathematicians developed math beyond the scope of aritmethics and simple algebra, and now we have this complex system, with all these intricacies and characteristics, that is sometimes
not even applicable in the real world.
There is a certain tendency in modern mathematics (and, by extension, incredibly, in theoretical physics) to revert to idealism in its most mystical form, alleging that the validity of an equation is purely a question of its aesthetic value, with no reference to the material world. (link)
Yeah, go figure. One of the things that baffle me about it. They proud themselves on studying some things that are not even applicable in the real world. What´s the difference with, say, made up religions, or lies? The thing is that, sometimes these same people think themselves so intelligent and they ditch everything they believe it´s not applicable to the real world - or so they say - like religions, philosophy, whatever. What is the difference? If you have something you don´t even apply to real world, where do you draw the line?
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| "I´m studying ghost mechanics, it´s so hardcore and awesome I don´t even have any applications for it in the real world." |
Society upholds this mystifying love of mathematics because it revolves around money and counting and controlling stuff, not because as a whole they think it´s beautiful and complex.
Math is born out of our need to count and control and divide. It is born out of our own irrational desires. Of course, like everything else, it fades onto irrationality, and can´t be anything other than irrationality, in the end. Or so I´d argue.
WHY IS MATH NOT IMPORTANT REGARDING MEANING.
So, because of all the loving math gets unconsciously, people confuse this, and like being afflicted with Stockholm Syndrome, believe it can actually helps them obtain meaning for their very existences. Why not, right? Math already gave us so much - or so they think. It surely is capable of giving me some kind of meaning regarding my existence.
Of course, this is horse sh*t.
An equation certainly lacks meaning. What does x=2 means for instance? The problem I have is with the use of mathematics as a surrogate for a deep understanding of existence. I don´t believe an equation can help us understand our existence any better - and if there are any, it is certainly an exception that confirms the rule. Pi, for instance, being 3.14159..., can´t say anything about my life, for instance. Even freaking Pi, which is regarded as some sort of sacred, transcendental (in a different meaning, but still) number, can´t tell me how should I lead my life, or how to behave morally in said or said situation in it. It doesn´t relate to my existence, at all, inwardly. Take any other major pure mathematical equation, and you can see my point.
They´ll say some other bullcr*p like that, like, if I go to work with another 20 other people, there is some percent of chance that some of them have the same birthday as me. Ok... well, interesting... but so what? This actually doesn´t teach me anything about my existence other than that are some people with the same birthday. I´m not saying that is useless. It´s certainly interesting. But as a subject of serious philosophical scrutiny? I doubt it. Also, this fits more on my diatribe against the sciences but what the hell - if I understand in how much time, some object travelled how much space, it´s fine, but even after solved, what does it mean? At most, it tells me that some object travelled such space, that such object can, in such conditions, travel to such space, and so on, but it doesn´t really explain to me what´s really going on beyond that - and why it is so. Worse, I can´t take very little to form any philosophical reasoning whatsoever. With much of what so called hard scientists and mathematicians trash talk about philosophy, it ain´t from equations they are taking all their beliefs out of.
THE ARGUMENT FOR IRRATIONALITY
This is not much of an argument against math per se, but it fits the bill, so here it goes. People enjoy mathematics on accounts that it is rational. And so, people who excel at it like to flatter themselves as being more rational than others. Although they may have some predisposition of doing such and such work with their minds, ad argumentandum tantum, it still doesn´t make them more rational than everybody else, just because of that.
When they go to lunch and they choose the foods they are going to eat, they are not choosing them rationally. They choose them irrationally, meaning they choose based on taste, not based on some rational law of x+y+z. The same goes to choosing clothes, or choosing a romantic interest, otherwise known as experiences shared by any other number of human beings. Those are all experiences based much more on irrationality than anything else. And so it goes. But people still like to think they are much more rational than others, because they can push some numbers around. It´s ludicrous. I call this the "Spock Argument". On some occasions, Spock´s father is said to have chosen to love an earth woman because it was the logical thing to do. And people swallow this like it was a veritable lecture on classical logic. This fails on so many levels. We can´t choose to love someone because it´s rational or logical. Love and romantic entanglements are irrationally based emotional drives. And to think that people still fall for that shtick, all the while also making that childish hand sign to salute their friends not knowing better.
THE 'BORING' ARGUMENT.
Those that love mathematics will tell us that many people, anyone actually, who dares say anything against math - such that it is anything less than the word of God - is not capable of doing much math (and thus unworthy of saying anything against math). This is a logical fallacy known as an ad hominem. But I´ll tell you what. Let´s posit an example: I never enjoyed much math, and never really excelled at it. So they (those who enjoy math) come and tell me that my arguments against any kind of usage of math to determine truths about existence are null, because I haven´t chosen to take mathematics on a higher level.
But this is a flawed argument.
You see, the fact that I (or any other person really) don´t excel at math may not be a reason I don´t like math. In fact it can be (and I believe it to be so) that I don´t excel at it exactly because I don´t like it. And I do, in fact, don´t like it very much. It find it rather dull and boring. I find that its frustrating and annoying.
I have nothing against some of its applications and all - I have everything against the way it´s used by human beings - as a way to measure others as well, as a way of discrimination and prejudice, as a way of elitism, and its use as a fictitious model of significant value regarding our human condition.
So it´s not that I don´t excel at math, and then I am against math. It´s like this - I found mathematics to be rather dull and uninspiring number pushing without much relation with my life outside of a few selected problems; so then, I don´t excel at it, because I have no interest in excelling in it.
That´s is a better, more suited application of everything we know about human beings, than the other stupid argument, more utilized by, what a surprise, math lovers and its ravenous defenders.
DOES MATH MATTER?
Of course, I´m not saying math is useless. Math is important to measure and control and count stuff. That´s it. That´s is quite a lot, already, and "important" to our current mode of existence as a species. But that´s it. Let´s stop trying to pretend it can give us any more than that, let alone supply any kind of philosophical understanding or meaning.
CONCLUSION.
I have a problem with people trying to find and building idols to worship - and the purpose to this blog is to defeat those idols, so we can be more aware of them. To philosophize with a hammer, as Nietzsche said.
If everyone created their idols without the need to create the correspondent amount of fuss, it would be swell, but this reign of math and the sciences as some kind of saviors to mankind is obnoxious, to say the least. Yes, they are interesting and all, but they are also boring (for the most part) to learn, and they lead to elitism and smugness for those that do have the patience or the need to learn them.
That´s it for now. Next post, I´ll say something about "the sciences".
Cheers.
