yego.me
💡 Stop wasting time. Read Youtube instead of watch. Download Chrome Extension

We Can’t Prove Most Theorems with Known Physics


2m read
·Nov 3, 2024

Processing might take a few minutes. Refresh later.

The overwhelming majority of theorems in mathematics are theorems that we cannot possibly prove. This is Girdle's theorem, and it also comes out of Turing's proof of what is and is not computable. These things that are not computable vastly outnumber the things that are computable, and what is computable depends entirely upon what computers we can make in this physical universe.

The computers that we can make must obey our laws of physics. If the laws of physics were different, then we'd be able to prove different sorts of mathematics. This is another part of the mathematician's misconception: they think they can get outside of the laws of physics. However, their brain is just a physical computer. Their brain must obey the laws of physics.

If they existed in a universe with different laws of physics, then they could prove different theorems. But we exist in the universe that we're in, and so we're bound by a whole bunch of things, not least of which is the finite speed of light. So there could be certain things out there in abstract space which we would be able to come to a more full understanding of if we could get outside of the restrictions of the laws of physics here.

Happily, none of those theorems that we cannot prove at the moment are inherently interesting. Some things can be inherently boring; namely, all of these theorems which we cannot possibly prove as true or false. Those theorems can't have any bearing in our physical universe. They have nothing to do with our physical universe, and this is why we say they're inherently uninteresting. There's a lot of inherently uninteresting things...

More Articles

View All
Introduction to the cell | Cells | High school biology | Khan Academy
You might already have some type of a notion of what a cell is. You might already realize that it is the most basic unit of life. Some would argue that maybe viruses are even a more basic unit of life. But the organisms that we consider living, like ourse…
Should You Start A Startup? | Startup School
Foreign [Music] I’m Hodge Tiger, one of the Group Partners at Y Combinator. Today, I’m going to talk about whether you should start a startup. Because YC invests in startups so early, I’ve spent a lot of time with people who aren’t yet sure if they should…
The ULTIMATE Beginner's Guide to Investing in Real Estate Step-By-Step
What’s up you guys! It’s Graham here. So, this video is really meant to be a real estate beginner tutorial where I can really cover the basics and outline the blueprints of exactly what’s needed in order to prepare for and actually invest in real estate. …
The 6 BIGGEST advantages of being young in business
What’s up you guys, it’s Graham here. So, one of the topics that gets brought up so much on my channel are comments along the lines of, “Am I too young to get into business? Am I too young to sell real estate?” People are telling me I should wait till I’…
Fired Up About Dark Matter | StarTalk
All right, number two. This next question is from, okay, let’s see. This is, uh, this is from David Crosby. Oh, okay, and in his interview with you, he asked me, he was asking me questions. You tell me, you snap, you clipped the question. I clipped a que…
This Season On Valley of the Boom | National Geographic
Let’s try one with a little bigger smile. [rushing sound] [dial tone] [gagging] [dramatic sounds] [gun clicks] [horn honking] Oh my god. Shh. You see all that? It didn’t happen. [electronic music playing] Microsoft didn’t literally kill anyone. They were…