Neue Kunstspaziergänge

Iris Gröschel
Das mathematische Berlin,
hier illustriert mit einigen (mathematischen) Skulpturen von Karl Menzen

Die Mathematik ist das Alphabet, mit dem Gott die Welt geschrieben hat.
(Galileo Galilei)

Is God a Mathematician?

One mathematician argues that if four dinosaurs stand together in a prehistoric clearing, they number four even though no people are there to count them. In other words, numbers exist independent of human beings. But consider the counterexample (suggested by British mathematician Sir Michael Atiyah) that starts with the imaginary idea that intelligence resides not in people but in a „vast solitary and isolated jellyfish, buried deep in the depths of the Pacific Ocean“ with „no experience of individual objects, only with the surrounding water.“ In this thought experiment, argues Atiyah, „there would be nothing to count.“ It follows from this second example that numbers — and all math — arise from the way that humans perceive the world.