On Thursday we took a look at how we perceive the world, through our eyes, our comprehension, and our "facts".
Is math culturally bound? Can Math truly serve as a universal language? Is there even such a thing as a "universal language"?
Please think about these questions and comment.
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6 comments:
For the most part, math does indeed cross cultural boundaries as the ideas involved are more conceptual than language-bound. At the same time, it does have its limitations as math can't describe every aspect of communication. As great as it would be for all the individuals of the world to speak the same language and thus be able to converse with anyone, there are too many varying perceptions on life, some culturally bound, to have a true universal language.
Is Music a universal language? Some people believe that even plans and animal communicate. I read once a book called "The Secret Life of Plants" that left a strong impression on me.
Folks, where were you today? Weren't you supposed to meet Mike and Kerry at the library at 1:30?
--Dani
Dani, I think the reason people weren't able to come was because the notice for the finalized plans was very long in coming, which was my fault.
I have also read part of "The Secret Life of Plants", quite a few years ago now. My recollection is pretty hazy at this point, but I do remember thinking about one of the main points quite a bit: that plants can be influenced by positive or negative energies (plants owned by happy people flourish, plants owned by unhappy people wither). I wish I could remember the research methods used to find that conclusion now, because without being able to look at that I don't think it's fair to say whether I believe those findings or not. In any case, if it is pretty well backed up, I think the implications of that idea are very interesting. I think the plants are speaking a "universal language" just as we are talking about here. I think the true universal language is the energy and the vibes all living things share with each other. Any other language or expression we produce - math, music, art, dance, as well as words - could be said, I think, to be part of that universal language coming out from our subconscious.
Thoughts?
I think that math is not bound to one culture. Like Josh said, math crosses cultural boundaries. I think everyone on this world uses remotely the same math concepts. Some small things may differ but if you think about it like a lot of our concepts for math were taking from mathmaticians and scientists, many of who, were from other countries. The only thing that i can think of that differs is that the US does not use the metric system but that is easily converted. It seems like scientists and the like communicate with math daily. They need it to talk about studies or findings. I think that math could actually serve as a universal language in my opinion. The math does not have to be complicated but i really think it is the only thing that may be remotely similar accross the world. Is sign language known across the world or braille? I think is a really good question Mike. It got me thinking. I could go on but my other thoughts are very jumbled.
I believe that math is cross cultural because everyone uses it in some form. Even if it's just to simply count that there are 3 of a certain item. They also have to use it to trade. People have to see what is a sufficient item for what they are giving away.
I do think math is a form of language, which would make it a universal language. Although math is very logical, it can also be interpreted in different was. We saw this when we tried to draw the world. We all saw the world the same way, but in other parts of the world, the world can be seen from different perspectives. In a way I think math is like this too.
It's hard to explain, and I can't seem to make up my mind if math is the 'universal language' or not because it can be seen in different lights. But one thing is for sure, math is the closest thing we have to a universal language.
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