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___pockets___ t1_j1uzsrv wrote

Reply to comment by themattboard in do we really believe aliens can decode the golden records by Calm-Confidence8429

universal in the sense that it is an absolute

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Icy-Conclusion-3500 t1_j1v1pig wrote

But the language to convey math is still language that humans made up

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SparseGhostC2C t1_j1v2vuu wrote

Right, but its our representation of rules and laws that exist throughout the universe (as far as we're currently aware). For a sufficiently advanced alien species figuring out what we were trying to convey would be like a cryptoquip in the newspaper, or decoding a message with a very basic cypher.

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sshish t1_j1v5uhq wrote

That’s like saying the letters T, G, A, and C being a human invention means DNA is also made up

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Icy-Conclusion-3500 t1_j1v61md wrote

Not at all. That is not a proper comparison, as I’m not arguing that math is made up.

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sshish t1_j1v72d6 wrote

How is it not a proper comparison? DNA isn’t made up, either, even if our means of interpreting it are. As another user mentioned, math is an absolute language and can be used as the basis of communication between alien civilizations. Any alien translators with an understanding of mathematics should be able to use pattern detection to recognize our means of representing mathematics

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Icy-Conclusion-3500 t1_j1v7u46 wrote

That’s all fine, but your comment about DNA is not saying the same thing.

It’s a brain-dead comparison. That’s implying I said “our language of math is made up, so math is made up”, which isn’t what I said at all.

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gobblox38 t1_j1v7b1s wrote

Math is made up, but it uses logic that's based on physical phenomena. Math isn't discovered, it's invented.

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