From: MoeBlee on
On Jul 7, 12:57 pm, Aatu Koskensilta <aatu.koskensi...(a)uta.fi> wrote:
> "Jesse F. Hughes" <je...(a)phiwumbda.org> writes:
>
> > Transfer Principle <lwal...(a)lausd.net> writes:
>
> >> In this "secret" thread which he tried in vain to keep hidden[...]
>
> > Which he tried to *what*?
>
> MoeBlee tried to keep this "secret" thread hidden by publicly posting it
> on a Usenet newsgroup regularly read by those I presume lwalke thinks he
> wanted to hide it from. This nefarious plan was foiled by lwalke's
> vigilance!

You mean anybody can read this thread? But I thought that if prayed to
Moloch and offered my pet raccoon as a sacrifice (which I did), then
this thread would be visible only to "standard theorists". Drat!
Thwarted by the diabolically clever Transfer Principle again!

MoeBlee

From: Tim Little on
On 2010-07-07, Aatu Koskensilta <aatu.koskensilta(a)uta.fi> wrote:
> No it doesn't. Suppose I say the Riemann hypothesis is true because,
> you see, if we look very carefully at the zeta function, and squint
> our eyes a bit, we find it's in reality made out of paper clips,
> hotdog buns and naval lint.

Do you have a suitable function made of fruit buns? I'm somewhat
hungry right now, and fruit buns would be a very suitable solution. I
would prefer not to have lint mixed in, but could separate out paper
clips with a powerful magnet if necessary. I call upon your
mathematical expertise to solve this problem, which seems to be
worsening with time.


> Am I vindicated if someone proves the Riemann hypothesis?

Well, obivously. You said it was true and it is true. Insignificant
side-claims such as the reason you offer for it being true make no
difference.


- Tim
From: Tim Little on
On 2010-07-06, Transfer Principle <lwalke3(a)lausd.net> wrote:
> And so rather than continue the discussion in the existing threads,
> he started this thread in the hopes that that other type of poster
> wouldn't notice this thread at all.
[...]
> In this "secret" thread which he tried in vain to keep hidden

This is the sort of comment that leads me to suspect that Transfer
Principle really might be a very good troll after all. Most of
his/her posts appear to be filled with clueless stupidity and
misreading of a particularly consistent kind, but inferring something
like this from MoeBlee's posts surely takes more than mere idiocy can
adequately explain.


- Tim
From: MoeBlee on
To whom it may concern:

When we say there is no finitistic proof that PA is consistent, we
don't contradict that there is a Z-R formal proof of "PA is
consistent".

It is finitistically "checkable" that a given sequence of formulas in
the langauge of Z-R is or is not a proof of the Z-R formula (that we
are here nicknaming) "PA is consistent". But that is not what we mean
by 'finitistic proof'. Yes, per some formal proof system and formal
axioms, it is finitisitc to check whether a given sequence of formulas
of a formal language is a proof from said axioms in said system. But
what we mean by 'finitistic proof' is that said proof itself uses no
more than finitistic methods (often formalized as "proof using no more
than PRA").

So, again, to be clear:

(1) For a given given formal language, and formal axioms, and formal
proof system, it is finitistic to check whether a sequence of symbols
is a formula of said language and whether a sequence of formulas of
said langauge is a proof from said axioms in said formal proof system
of a given formula.

(2) However, when we say 'finitistic proof' we are not referring to
the above, but rather that said proof system and axioms are themselves
finitistic, often in the sense that said proof system and axioms
constitute PRA or some subsystem of PRA.

MoeBlee
From: MoeBlee on
P.S.

So, Z-R |- Con(PA)

That is, there is a formal proof from the axioms of Z-R of the
sentence 'Con(PA)' but that formal proof is not a finitistic proof,
since Z-R is not PRA nor a subsystem of PRA.

IF we had PRA |- Con(PA) then there would be a finitistic proof of
'Con(PA)'. But we do not have PRA |- Con(PA). The incompleteness
theorems shows us that we don't have PRA |- Con(PA) and we don't have
T |- Con(PA) where T is PA itself (unless, of course PA is
inconsistent, but still whether PA is consistent or not, we can, by
finitistic means, show that we don''t have T |- Con(PA) where T is PRA
or any subtheory of PRA).

That "we do NOT have PRA |- PA" we take as saying "there is no
finitistic proof of the consistency of PA". But, again, that does not
preclude that there are many non-finitistic but still formal proofs of
the consistenty of PA. And, again, we (editorial 'we') show that there
are such formal proofs but in doing so we don't necessarily assert
that they have any epistemological import for anyone who already
doubts that PA is consistent. What would have epistemological import
would be PRA |- Con(PA), but the incompleteness theorems show us that
we don't have PRA |- Con(PA).

MoeBlee