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Are there any maths that are not comprehensible to the human mind?

Asked by Zuma (5908points) November 13th, 2009

The anthropic principle holds that intelligent life could not arise except in a “finely tuned” universe, which was neither “too hot nor too cold” for life to emerge. I am wondering whether the anthropic principle isn’t a special case of what I will call a “math-anthropic” principle, in which only universes which are mathematically possible can exist.

By “mathematically possible” I mean a universe in which everything in it conforms to a deep mathematical order, such as one might find in a universe where the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics applies, and seems to cover all natural phenomena, as appears to be the case in our universe.

Do the anthropic principle and the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics imply one another? In other words, could the order we perceive in the universe exist if that order did not exist and was pervasive. Indeed, would we even have consciousness if it did not arise out of a deeper mathematical order in the universe?

If so, how far does this go? Is there any aspect of our universe that isn’t explained by the unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics? Is there any aspect of any mathematically possible universe (such as one embodying a different geometry) that is not accessible to our imagination?

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