[FOM] Pure mathematics and humanity's collective curiosity

[Thomas Forster]

My favourite examples of this is the way in which the Greeks worked out 
huge amounts of stuff concerning conic sections more than a millenium 
before Kepler & co discovered that objects under gravity moved in conic 
sections.  

   Sometimes fundamental research takes time to bear fruit.  This is 
always a good one to use on the faux-realists in your university 
administration!

On Tue, 16 Oct 2007, Adib Ben Jebara wrote:

> My opinion is that most pure mathematics can be 
> expected to be applied in the future.
> For the physical world is shaped mathematically.
> 
> We can find in the history of mathematics examples
> where applying a theory came as a surprise.
> For instance, applying non euclidian geometry
> came as a surprise.
> 
> So, recreational mathematics are recreational only for
> a given time.
> Regards,
> Adib Ben Jebara.
> http://jebara.topcities.com
> 
> From: "John McCarthy" 
> > Feng Ye included
> > 
> > Quine and some philosophers following him called mathematics with no
> > potential applications in sciences 'recreational mathematics'
> > 
> > One might extend that idea to call science without potential
> > application to human material prosperity `recreational science'.
> > 
> 
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