|
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|||
|
||||
|
||||
Philosophy of scienceFrom: Zach Newton (zbnewton@mindspring.com)Tue Oct 24 19:40:59 2000
Below is a capture of a post found on another board. With hope for your indulgence, it seems worthy of sharing. --------------------------------------------------------------- A little history of science lesson (specifically history of --------------------------------------------------------------- mathematics). --------------------------------------------------------------- Back around the turn of the century, there was a belief that it would be possible to construct a "theorem machine" that would prove any proposition in mathematics true or false. The finest minds in mathematics were all in agreement. Well, along came a 23 year old mathematician named Godel, who proved that there were statements about arithematic that could not be proved true or false, i.e. arithematic is either incomplete or inconsistent. Not only that, it could not be patched up by adding any finite number of new axioms. If this was true about something as simple as arithematic, then the whole notion of a "theorem machine" was absurd. This was so contrary to the foundations of mathematics as understood at the time that the greatest mathematician of the time, David Hilbert, turned on Godel with a vengence that put Godel in a mental institution. Years later, Godel would come out, take a look around, shake his head "uh-uh", and go back in. Hilbert eventually realized that Godel was right, but it was too late for Godel. Now if something as simple as fundamental as arithematic is so different from what we believed, isn't it possible that our "understanding" of "hard science" will continue to come under fundamental change, as has been the case throughout history? snip Poster (elsewhere): Harry Pierson ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Zach Newton ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Z. B. Newton, III, M.D. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Atlanta/Gyn
|
|
Return to
|
Mail a New Message to the Forum: ob-gyn-l@obgyn.net Forum Administrator: geffrey.klein@obgyn.net Report Technical Problems: webmaster@obgyn.net Last Updated: Mon Nov 2 04:46:07 2009 |
The American Medical Association is no longer designating CME hours for AMA Category II CME credit. However, physicians themselves may self designate learning activities as Category II CME credit hours if they feel it is of sufficient educational merit and meets the formal definitions of continuing medical education. OBGYN.net believes these interaction in this forum meets these criteria. For further information see the AMA web site.