
Struggles with the Continuum - raattgift
https://arxiv.org/abs/1609.01421
======
dzdt
I read the first few pages and will certainly want to dig into the rest. It is
interesting insightful stuff from a true expert.

Something I never realized as an undergradute math major/ physics minor was to
what exent mathematics is arbitrary. We set certain axioms describing the real
line, and then two, three, higher dimensional spaces. But the actual details
are governed by arbitrary choices and culture as opposed to any reason of
necessity.

A lot of advanced mathematics assumes the axiom of choice, but as far as the
mathematics applies to the real world there is no known consequences to
assuming the opposite. It is purely a cultural choice.

People have an idea that math is universal and absolute, but that isn't so
much true!

~~~
empath75
They assume the axiom of choice because it makes a lot of nice results
possible. So, it's not exactly arbitrary.

~~~
DigitalPhysics
Let Mathematicians frolic in the Platonic world if they wish, but should
physicists be using continuous math if our universe ends up by being discrete
and finite?

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musgravepeter
Together with "There are no particles, only fields"
([https://arxiv.org/abs/1204.4616](https://arxiv.org/abs/1204.4616)) at the
top of my web reading list.

~~~
wyager
While I agree with that paper, I was unsatisfied with it. He simply hand waved
away the measurement problem, which is the single largest conceptual issue
with the idea that everything is waves. To be fair, he explicitly says that he
will not address the measurement problem, but I think if it weren't for the
measurement problem there wouldn't be any issue believing that everything is
made of waves. In particular, position eigenvector collapse is what causes the
appearance that things are made of localized particles, but we don't actually
know how it works. We have all sorts of interpretations, none of them
confirmed, and many of them nonsensical. Plug for my favorite hypothetical
mechanism, Einselection. It's so boring and straightforward-ish that I think
it has a good chance of being the right idea.

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seycombi
he blogged about this last week
[https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/author/john-
baez/](https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/author/john-baez/)

~~~
JadeNB
For visitors from the future, the last post in the series is
[https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/struggles-
continuum-c...](https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/struggles-continuum-
conclusion) . It links to the previous ones.

