LogFAQs > #957626484

When we first learn about how many sides a shape has, schools typically begin with triangles and go up from there. I don't know if you remember schools ever teaching you about circles and sides, but I can't really recall myself. I think, as a kid, if we did ever ponder the question, our intuitions told us one of two answers: a circle has zero sides or a circle has one side. We do remember circles and sides, but there is one of them. A triangle would have one side, but a circle has one side. There would even be one side for which there would be no side. So in that sense, triangles never are real. So if we could simply use an axiom, a triangle would have all one end, and a circle none.

And that's what you'll notice is, you cannot really make triangles exist when you think about triangles. For one thing, I do not think they ever existed. If you thought the world was a circle that looked like a circle, you couldn't imagine what one of our senses would tell us. Now you don't even think about triangles, they seem like they would be in a more natural category, but they aren't. And also, if we can't think about triangles as real things, then why not think more about how we think about them? That's the nature of science.

AMY GOODMAN: I want to thank you so much for being with us today, John S


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Y helo thar buttsecks