Moses was high on drugs: Israeli researcher

[David Hobby]

Alberto Monteiro wrote:
> David Hobby wrote:
>> Before I attempt a definition, tell me:  Are mathematical
>> objects "real"?  (Say the square roots of -1.)
>>
> Of course not. _i_ is not real. -1 is not real (in the mundane
> sense of real). pi is not real. 10^10^100 is not real. 
> sqrt(2) is not real. 7/4 is not real. 0 is not real. 
> 1,3,4,5, etc are not real.
> 
> I am not sure about 2.
> 
> Alberto Monteiro

Alberto--

That certainly is an unexpected response!

What I was trying to find out was whether
"independent existence outside of one's self"
was enough to make things real, or whether
we were going to insist that one be able to
interact with objects if they're going to
count as real.

I picked i, since I wondered if it might make
a difference that from the standpoint of the
reals one can't tell it from -i.  But this
seems to be moot...  : )

				---David