Grumblenuts
Gold Member
- Oct 16, 2017
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Veritasium claims "This problem broke math" and brought us quantum mechanics. Don't get me wrong, I love the guy, but.. I'm sure he's said that last bit about quite a few things and I think math has survived just fine. Somehow modern physicists always portray QM as both the inevitable source and result of everything we now understand about the universe. It's gotten so far over-the-top the stink of desperation seems pretty gross.. to me anyway.
A master presenter. Fascinating history. Why does it piss me off so much? Foremost, he often reminds of that old, never spoken, but barely below the surface drumbeat from all of my schooling: "Don't think, just memorize. Everything important has long been figured out by your betters. Just plug the numbers properly into their formulas and voila!" Second, I (obviously) don't buy his conclusions. Rather than nothing, impossible, or quantum mechanics, what "imaginary" or "complex" numbers immediately suggest to me is counterspace. But, of course, one can't say such things in polite company.
We're not really allowed to think outside the box. Far too incommensurate!
A master presenter. Fascinating history. Why does it piss me off so much? Foremost, he often reminds of that old, never spoken, but barely below the surface drumbeat from all of my schooling: "Don't think, just memorize. Everything important has long been figured out by your betters. Just plug the numbers properly into their formulas and voila!" Second, I (obviously) don't buy his conclusions. Rather than nothing, impossible, or quantum mechanics, what "imaginary" or "complex" numbers immediately suggest to me is counterspace. But, of course, one can't say such things in polite company.
We're not really allowed to think outside the box. Far too incommensurate!
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