Nevertheless, mathematics is unreasonably effective in the natural sciences.
That term was coined by Physicist Eugene Wigner is his famous article The Unreasonable Effectiveness of Math in the Natural Sciences.
Most of what will be said on these questions will not be new; it has probably occurred to most scientists in one form or another. My principal aim is to illuminate it from several sides. The first point is that the enormous usefulness of mathematics in the natural sciences is something bordering on the mysterious and that there is no rational explanation for it. Second, it is just this uncanny usefulness of mathematical concepts that raises the question of the uniqueness of our physical theories .
As I recall, you and I have been down this road before your mathematical worldview (and perhaps your theological belief) is Aristotlean whereas mine is Platonic. Every atheist and agnostic has an Aristotlean worldview - but not every Aristotlean is atheist or agnostic. Platonists, on the other hand have a worldview which is "beyond" space/time - so if they are not Judeo/Christian they are at least theistic in some sense or have some concept of a collective consciousness (e.g. Eastern mysticism.)
Aristotle and Plato did not resolve the debate, neither did Einstein and Gödel, neither did Hawking and Penrose. Max Tegmark (a Platonist) described it this way (formatting mine):
If the frog sees a particle moving with constant velocity, the bird sees a straight strand of uncooked spaghetti. If the frog sees a pair of orbiting particles, the bird sees two spaghetti strands intertwined like a double helix.
To the frog, the world is described by Newtons laws of motion and gravitation. To the bird, it is described by the geometry of the pasta a mathematical structure.
The frog itself is merely a thick bundle of pasta, whose highly complex intertwining corresponds to a cluster of particles that store and process information. Our universe is far more complicated than this example, and scientists do not yet know to what, if any, mathematical structure it corresponds.
The Platonic paradigm raises the question of why the universe is the way it is. To an Aristotelian, this is a meaningless question: The universe just is. But a Platonist cannot help but wonder why it could not have been different. If the universe is inherently mathematical, then why was only one of the many mathematical structures singled out to describe a universe? A fundamental asymmetry appears to be built into the very heart of reality.
Now the frog is a nominalist. He would say that universals do not exist, such things as redness, sound, threeness, and so on. He would call them language only. To him, mathematical constructs such as pi are invented by the mathematician to describe the world the frog sees. Physical laws dont exist in themselves, they are observations. The soul, mind, or consciousness is merely an epiphenomenon of the physical brain. To the frog, when a tree falls in the forest it makes no sound if no one is around to hear it.
F: Hullo! Did I hear you mention my name? How goes it on your lily pads, lady frogs?
TSB: Hello Brother Frog! So nice of you to join us! How was your trip?
F: What trip? Im sitting here on my lily pad in my happy pond, sunning myself. Then I heard you two talking about me . Whats up?
TFB: You are most welcome to join us. We were chatting about the differences in worldview of frogs and birds .
F: I dont believe in birds.
TSB: (Aside to Timothy) And he doesnt believe in you either, Timothy .
T: Be that as it may. I continue to believe in him.
Brother Frog is most welcome here. He brings a certain point of view regarding the issues you want to discuss, which promises to be important to their illumination.
And so I shall be very glad to attend to your exchange of ideas.
TFB: Well, Froggie, you know that my sister and I do believe in birds we are birds! As I was saying (though you may disagree), the bird is a realist. He would say that universals such as redness, sound, and threeness do exist, that geometry exists and the mathematician doesnt invent it, but comes along and discovers it. To the bird, a variable in a mathematical formula is a universal per se. The physical laws exist. The soul, mind, or consciousness exists and may be in space/time or beyond space/time or both. And when a tree falls in the forest it makes a sound even if no one is around to hear it.
Infinity is the unbounded quantity which is greater than every real number.
I am not sure what is the point you are trying to make. Can you reduce it to a single sentence or at least a paragraph?
And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you. Exodus 3:13-14
What an interesting read today! Thank you for the ping.