Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

I would certainly think so. The statements mathematicians seem to be interested in tend to be at a "higher level" than simple but true statements like 2+3=5. And they necessarily have a short description in the formal language of ZFC, otherwise we couldn't write them down (e.g., Fermat's last theorem).

If the truth of these higher level statements instantly unlocks many other truths, then it makes sense to think of them in the same way that knowing BB(5) allows one to instantly classify any Turing machine configuration on the computation graph of all n ≤ 5 state Turing machines (on empty tape input) as halting/non-halting.



Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: