Provoker
Permabanned
- Joined
- Feb 4, 2008
- Messages
- 252
- MBTI Type
- INTJ
There is something deeper going on in society though still in seedling form. It's what I've often referred to as the mathematization of culture which has coincided with the communications revolution. I'm not just referring to Rubik's cubes, chess, and sudokus becoming increasingly popular, but a process whereby society becomes increasingly mathematical, algorithmic, systematic, and approaches problems with the rigor used in mathematics. In this new world, emotions are subject to de-emphasis. Emotions are subject to de-evolution. Instead, what is increasingly important is dispassionate contemplation and clear thinking. Where emotions do exist, they are quantified, assigned values, and subject to the wrath of the intellect. As the culture changes and absorbs the inevitable, children will begin to absorb mathematical concepts the way they are currently genetically predisposed to absorb language. Indeed, mathematics will become increasingly vital to our survival as a species in the future. This is the case because we have put ourselves in an unsustainable situation wherein we are using the earth's resources faster than they naturally reproduce. Adapting requires that we use the earth's resources more efficiently and more sustainably. This requires that we evaluate the true costs and benefits of using a resource. Mathematics and a more rational approach can aide our calculus in determining the true costs and benefits of using a resource, and is thus a critical tool for adaptation. One may submit the counterthesis that this will have a dehumanizing effect, but this is not necessarily the case. For instance, humans have an inherent drive to create and in the work of some of the great artists is mathematics. Picasso's paintings use Euclidian geometry while Da Vinci's realist paintings were aided by superior judgment in proportions and so forth. Thus, a greater orientation around mathematics can enhance the quality of aesthetics.
Is this inevitable? Is this desirable? Thoughts?
Is this inevitable? Is this desirable? Thoughts?