>>11587730We learn the whole 0.99..= 1 bullshit at school. Most kids just roll with it because of appeal to authority, cant be bothered thinking too hard about it, or simply lack independent critical thinking skills. Some go all the way through to University, never questioning the narrative. They make computers work, they design jet engines, things work, of course they are going to have confidence in the validity of their education. But a few, the really bright ones, get their first inkling that something is suspect with the whole system. This is reinforced as they progress, as they learn that mathematics, far from being an absolute discipline, actually contains a lot of arbitrary made up bullshit, shoe horned in for the convenience of practical intellects who just want to build stuff and if it works then that's good enough.When they encounter absolute intellectual rigor they are frequently puzzled, even upset. It works, why try to make it better?
It gets that bridge built, makes that moon shot work, who gives a fuck? It gets shit done.
Newtonian physics gets shit done too, but we are now aware it was only a partial description of how the Universe works, containing conceptual omissions that render it useless for precision under extreme conditions.
This is the state of mathematics. Some are becoming slowly aware that the foundations of our systems have been built upon shaky ground. Some of those who question the validity of such things as recurring decimals, infinities, infinitesimals, etc, are not denouncing the practical value of such constructions, it gets shit done, but they are implying that there may exist a more logically consistent of describing the Universe through mathematics.
Also: DEUS VULT! DEUS VULT! HA! DEUS VULT!
