Burgy: I found this in P. D. Medewar's 1984 book, THE LIMITS OF SCIENCE:
(page 79) No process of logical reasoning -- no mere act of mind or
computer-programmable operation -- can enlarge the information content
of
the axioms and premises or observation statements from which it
proceeds."
Greg: "This seems unclear. What is the information content of a set of
axioms, for instance? Even in deductive fields like mathematics, it
is not considered a waste of time to pursue investigations because 'no
more information is gained than what was in the original postulates.'
It is exactly the process of making explicit what patterns and
possibilities
are in the original postulates which makes the enterprise exciting! The
laws of physics obviously allow for our existence, but it seems to
process
of exploring those possibilities is what makes for an exciting life.
Perhaps 'information content' is a poor diagnostic of what is worth
doing."
Greg -- I suspect it seems unclear because I did not quote enough from
Medewar's book. In his discussion, he addresses that point explicitly.
The book is pretty good (for a non-theists < G >) and worth a read by
anybody.
Burgy
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