From: scerir (scerir@libero.it)
Date: Mon Jun 17 2002 - 04:08:29 MDT
> Wei Dai:
> Suppose nothing exists physically. Would mathematical
> structures still have a platonic existence? [...]
> We believe that there is a mathematical structure
> that corresponds with our physical universe, which
> implies that mathematical structures can contain sentient
> beings. Even if nothing exists physically, these beings
> inside platonic mathematical structures can still have
> consciousness.
Augustine (Confessions, book 11) wrote something. Well, ok,
not about math structures, about "what" made heaven and earth.
<< Now, are not those still full of their old carnal nature
who ask us: "What was God doing before he made heaven and earth?
For if he was idle," they say, "and doing nothing, then why did
he not continue in that state forever - doing nothing, as he had
always done? [...]". How, then, shall I respond to him who asks,
"What was God doing before he made heaven and earth?" I do not
answer, as a certain one is reported to have done facetiously
(shrugging off the force of the question). "He was preparing hell,"
he said, "for those who pry too deep." It is one thing to see the
answer; it is another to laugh at the questioner - and for myself
I do not answer these things thus. More willingly would I have
answered, "I do not know what I do not know," [...]>>
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