Can you consider maths a science? I know it is a controversial topic, but since maths is not based on the scientific method (but in axioms), would it be fair to call it “science”? Nowadays, people seem to view maths as “the queen of science.” How?
Science deals with the following process:Make observationsForm a hypothesisCreate an experiment to test your hypothesisGather data using your experimentAnalyze your data and see if it fits with your hypothesis; if it doesn’t, start again from either step 2 or from step 1Step 2 can often include creating a mathematical model, and in this sense, mathematics forms the basis of a lot of science. However, this does not imply that mathematics is a science itself.Mathematics strictly deals with deducing conclusions from axioms. You can use the scientific process listed above to create conjectures, but not theorems, if you replace steps 3–5 with “test your conjecture with various different numbers”. Take the Goldbach conjecture for example. It states that every even integer greater than 2 can be written as the sum of two primes.[math]4 = 2 + 2[/math][math]6 = 3 + 3[/math][math]8 = 3 + 5[/math][math]10 = 3 + 7 = 5 + 5[/math][math]12 = 7 + 5[/math]In fact, every even integer up to [math]4 \times 10^{18}[/math] has been confirmed to follow the Goldbach conjecture[1], so it is likely that it is true, but no mathematician can say for sure that it is true until a rigorous proof is provided. You are right, mathematics deals with axioms. Although mathematical modeling is prevalent in the sciences, it is not appropriate to call mathematics itself a science.Footnotes[1] Goldbach's conjecture - Wikipedia
As a physicist, what was the most "the universe is indeed strange" moment you have ever had?
I’m not actually a physicist, but personally I have had a few ‘holy crap, the universe is weird’ moments.Quantum entanglement; essentially the principle that if there are two entangled particles set at any distance apart, and the spin of one of the particles is measured, the other particle seems to ‘know’ the spin of that particle and have the opposite spin, in order to not violate the law of the conservation of angular momentum. It has also been proven by Bell’s theorem that there cannot be any ‘pre-programmed’ information set in the particles, which seems to prove that there is some version of faster-than-light communication between the particles, which seems to violate Einstein’s theory of relativity.Quantum superpositions. That a particle can be in two places at once while simultaneously being at neither place is just baffling to me.Quantum tunneling, because quantum mechanics couldn’t be weird enough with just the things above named, but must also allow particles to appear on the other side of a barrier without having actually passed through the barrier.There are a lot more, like consequences of the double-slit experiment and relativity and so on, but I think that for me these three things are the strangest.
What is the meaning behind "What is the sound of one hand clapping?"?
Dear Friend,All our life, only that has happened to us, which has a cause and an effect.All our life, only that has happened to us, which is dualistic.When the Zen Master is saying that, “Go and listen to the sound of one hand clapping”, he is challenging you.He is saying that “Now, for once, can anything happen in your life which is un-caused, which is non-dual?”Two hands are required to clap, which means that in your life everything is dualistic, that everything depends on past and future, everything is cause and effect, everything is material.Now the Master is asking, “Can you find out that which is and yet is not caused?” The sound is, surely, because he is saying, “Go, listen to that sound.” But it cannot be a caused sound. For the sound to be caused, there must be two hands.Master is saying, “Now, can you listen to the silent music, to the un-caused sound?” He is challenging him to go and listen to Anhad.And when you start living in that, which is unreasonable, which has nothing behind it, which is not coming from your own past actions, then you are fit to be initiated. You can even be called Enlightened. That is about the Koan of ‘Sound of one hand clapping’.‘Can you be touched by the non-dual?’ – that is the mission of the student.For more content, you may search for my blog ‘Words into Silence’ on the web!