FOM: use and mention, objective, astronomical calculations, etc.

[Vaughan Pratt]

Hersh:
> It's "obvious," as Martin Davis informed me, that mathematics is a social
>activity.

Davis:
>I never said anything remotely like that. It would help if you would quote.

Dear Martin:

Could clarify what you intended in the following?

Davis (March #113):
>"Reuben Hersh makes the remarkable discovery that mathematical activity 
>is a social process."

Hersh (March #129):
>May I be forgiven for guessing that the "remarkable" is sarcasm?

Davis: (March #141):
>Right!

Apparently like Reuben, I had interpreted this to mean that you thought
it obvious that mathematical activity was a social process.  If you meant
something else, e.g. that RH is wrong about it being a social process,
it would be good to clarify this.

Vaughan Pratt