The Blank Swan: The End of Probability by Elie Ayache

numbersix · Post by **numbersix** » Wed Aug 11, 2010 9:45 am

I think you are the only one who is sorry, pj. Head against Wall

Cheng · Post by **Cheng** » Wed Aug 11, 2010 9:53 am

Pj, I'm not sorry Smiley . My past understanding of numbers was that a number like 1, 2, ... is just a convenient shortcut for some set theoretic construction. Actually, it is not 2, but 2:=1+1, also for convenience.

I was just about making a remark about epistemology but obviously numbersix anticipated that. At least something to grind the brain on and to reduce the set of unknown knowns.

numbersix · Post by **numbersix** » Wed Aug 11, 2010 9:55 am

Thanks.

Dimatrix · Post by **Dimatrix** » Wed Aug 11, 2010 10:14 am

Alternatively, imagine that the real world could have been different, without indulging in the fiction of identifying the different possibilities. Reality is massive and undivided and undistinguishable (in this sense, it is "unpredictable"), yet it could be otherwise. It is not that we don't know what other possibilities it could be; my argument is ontological, not epistemological; it is even logical.

Are the 500 pages written in the same style?

Scotty · Post by **Scotty** » Wed Aug 11, 2010 10:18 am

Yes. Nietzschian-style.

(Note, I think the content may be substantive, but it is not that easy to confirm)