X-Message-Number: 8017
Date: Tue, 08 Apr 1997 11:53:02 +0100
From: John de Rivaz <>
Subject: Re: Ways of looking at things

I have been off cryonet for a while and have read the last few days all at 
once, and under the influence of fast moving time, and apologise if someone 
else has made this point and I missed it.

All the talk about number systems and I didn't spot any mention of the 
significance of the introduction of zero. Without it much of modern 
mathematics would be impossible, I should have thought. The two systems of 
decimal and fractional notation sit side by side in uneasy coexistence. I 
know few of you are interested in the stock market, but they still get into a 
real tizz over share price quotations of a dollar or so, with sixty-fourths 
and other ratios being quoted rather than using decimals to get the desired 
level of accuracy.

I have often wondered whether there is an alternative system of numbering we 
haven't seen which is even better than ours. After all, there must have been 
plenty of bright Romans and Greeks who failed to discover the practical uses 
of zero. Maybe there is a numbering system that does not create surds. I 
doubt it, but then the Romans would have doubted there was a system that made 
division practicable.

A parallel is the view of the solar system - the geocentric model made 
calculations difficult before the heliocentric model was considered. Maybe 
the rejection of the heliocentric model was partially fuelled by the fact 
that making calculations easier demystified them and reduced the incomes and 
status of those that could do them.

Also there has been discussion of whether religious people can be persuaded 
as to the merits of cryopreservation. Maybe this is actually similar: a 
numbering system is just a way of looking at reality, and the way they look 
at reality just does not value themselves enough to make any form of 
preservation worthwhile. 

The curious thing is, of course, that the preservation of individuals is a 
large part of human endeavour, with the medical profession and related social 
services. In the UK, the National Health Service is the country's largest 
employer, more than food production or manufacturing. Cryopreservation would 
seem a logical extension of this. Why is it then rejected so vehemently?

-- 
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John de Rivaz  *           Fractal Report              *
               * http://www.longevb.demon.co.uk/fr.htm *
               *       Music I like - see homepage     *
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