Is God a mathematician?

What Hacker News says

1. agentgtAug 2016
   Many of the books I would have been covered already but one that hasn't (ie not found via option-f) is:

   "Is God a Mathematician?" by Mario Livio

   It is a wonderful exploration and history of math, science and light theology (mostly historic though. the book is written by a mathematician).

   I still wonder frequently if math is human made up thing or is it innate. Is the universe inherently mathematical? Can we prove it?

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2. davesimsSep 2011
   "Understanding our reasoning capacities as the outcome of a natural physical process leads to my agreement with Dawkins's claim that any philosophical result prior to 1859 can be disregarded."

   I'm sorry my friend, but...no. I'm open to a lot of ideas and directions that a discussion may take but this is just a non-starter, a laughable example of exactly the sort of benighted, willful ignorance that dooms fruitful discussion. This is the kind of statement you can only make if you haven't read philosophy written before 1859. I mean, of course, _The Origin of Species_ was a watershed to be sure, but there's certain philosophical freight even Darwin can't carry.

   I think underneath this is a problem of false analogy. Philosophical insight is not the same species as math, and doesn't "build" the same way, in a scaffold of proofs and deductive confidence towards an inevitable conclusion that, once reached, can be accepted on its own terms without understanding of the prior movements.

   I'd suggest reading a bit further and broaden your engagement. As a mathematician, you might appreciate Pierre Duhem's views on religion and history, Whitehead's ideas on the history of science, and in particular I'd say check out Hans Jonas' "Is God a Mathematician?". All of those pass the 1859 smell test as well, so, bonus!

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