I have the impression that my thought is quantized, discontinuous. Thoughts are like points on a 2D surface not really connected to each other. We think it is logical that one follows from the other, but perhaps because we are walking on the same surface of logic.
How do we know that 1 + 1 = 2. This is a mathematical dogma, it seems very logical. We can infer this from an example from real life. Having one apple and another apple, we have two apples together. But why two and not five, actually. After all, two is a conventional name. Besides, what plus means and equals to what? Not to mention the one that this is all contractual. We agreed that it was so. In algebra it is said that 1 + 1 = 2 is a dogma. It cannot be derived from any other principle. You have to start somewhere. This is a deal for us to synchronize our thinking. Only that…
The problem is that we don’t know how each of us understands this 1 + 1 = 2 (let’s call it the base equation). One thinks about apples, another about pears, and another about people. What does add mean? Does that mean they are standing next to self? Does adding people together mean they hug each other? Are they reproducing? Human + Human, what could that mean? A plus in math is reasonably logical, but the real world doesn’t really have a meaning. Does having two apples in your pocket mean that there are two that are adding? It’s a tautology after all. In my opinion, plus is not a real operator. In the real world, it has no real reference. It is only an abstract generalization of our minds.
I am beginning to wonder why we need such systematisation of concepts. Every apple is different. They cannot be added and cannot be compared. What does two apples mean? That they are added? What does add mean? That they are standing next to each other or are in some container? Two apples is an abstract concept. There is actually no such thing as two apples. There is possibly one apple and the other one standing next to each other. The fact that the apples are standing next to each other does not mean that it is a two-apple unity 😉
At school, we have systematized the notion that this is how it is supposed to be … They don’t teach thinking, only dogmas. “One” is that I can deal with. It’s just that something is because it is one, or it is not there, and it can be zero. The number two and more is unreal. Besides, the + operator loses its meaning at this point, because you can’t add something because you don’t know what it means.
I believe that anything that can be added together and has meaning is unreal. It doesn’t really exist. For example, money. After all, we operate 1$, 2$. It is just an abstraction that for 2$ I can buy two apples, if they are 1$ each. Every apple is different. Dollars not anymore, they are the same, so in fact they are an abstraction. An invention of people. This is where the addition becomes more valuable. You can add money, and yet for 2 bucks I can have 2 apples for 1 buck. That’s why I say our logic confuses us. Two apples are not the same as two one dollar’s apples. Or we are confused … only by whom and for what?
The logic we use is like unconnected points on a 2D surface. Our mind logically connects these points, that is, mathematically interpolates and extrapolates, but all the time it is just our feeling that the points are connected. They do not have to come together as a whole. Each of us connects these points in our own way. Interpolation is a complex process depending on whether we want to smooth our logic or not. I think the points are connected, but already in extra space. This space can be called 3D for simplicity. Continuity can only be basically different than we think (than the projection / projection of this continuous onto a 2D surface).
A logic that goes beyond our concept actually exists and connects the points of our poor logic. It gives continuity, truly ensuing, not dogmatic and abstract poor understanding.
wonabru