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
Vector form of multivariable quadratic approximation
Okay, so we are finally ready to express the quadratic approximation of a multivariable function in vector form. So, I have the whole thing written out here where ( f ) is the function that we are trying to approximate. ( X_0 ) and ( Y_K ) is the constant…
MONACO'S BILLIONAIRES SECRETS EXPOSED!
Narrator: A tiny country smaller than Central Park that holds more billionaires per square mile than anywhere else on Earth, but today we’re not just talking about any billionaires; we’re going deeper into a world so exclusive that even money alone can’t …
Black Hole Star – The Star That Shouldn't Exist
Black hole stars may have been the largest stars that ever existed. They burned brighter than galaxies and were larger than any star today or that could ever exist in the future. But besides their scale, what makes them special and weird is that deep insi…
Subscriptions Are Scamming You
Subscriptions are everywhere: streaming services, software, groceries, even the heating in your car. Companies have convinced us that subscriptions will make our life easier, give us access to way more than we could afford if we had to pay out of pocket f…
How Kodak Exposed Nuclear Testing
Part of this video was sponsored by HBO Max and their new show Raised by Wolves. [Music] There’s a place in the New Mexico desert open to the public for just two days out of the year. But I got to visit by myself, with only a small film crew. This is the…
How to Win an Interstellar War
Could aliens destroy us from light years away? Mh, another day at the Kurzgesagt Labs, where we answer the most important questions with science. Today: how might civilizations wage war across light years? What kind of devastating weapons could they use, …