The End of Racism and Reality

As luck would have it, a close friend shared a TikTok video about Math being racist. I couldn't help myself but paraphrase:

"First they came for the biologists, and I did not speak out.

Then they came for the physicists, and I did not speak out.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me."

While we had a moment of laughter, I was immediate struck by several implications of this video. The first is on this being a clearly constructed piece of clickbait. It was funny to me, and I definitely enjoyed "gossiping" about this short clip. I wouldn't call it real news to save my life, but I would go beyond that sentiment. While I don't know the intent of the host of the show, I feel like this interview was done to paint a caricature of liberals. When I step back and think about it, I tend to believe that most people on television don't actually represent Americans at all. When we watch the "news" on any channel, we are exposing ourselves to the extremes of our society. I would love to do a poll of Americans simply around the question of how many of them want to run for political office and how many of them want to be on national television talking about their personal views? People who engage in these activities don't represent the average person in my point of view. They likely are outside the standard deviation. I can imagine there are both liberals and conservatives that would look at this video clip as absolutely ridiculous.

Secondly, there is a major flaw in this conversation that both people fail to understand. Mathematics doesn't actually say anything about "reality". #mathaintreal For example, there is the concept of a circle. There does not exist a perfect circle in reality. Math discusses concepts that are purely abstract. You may look at a simple trash can and say it looks like a circle, but the trash can is not "literally" a perfect circle. It can't be. There are similar concept with lines. We have all been taught that the shortest distance between two points is a straight line. This is the definition of a line in Euclidean Geometry. Turns out we don't live on a flat surface. #sorryflatearthers Ask your local pilot if they fly from the United States to Germany in a straight line. The answer is no! The earth is curved and the fastest path is a curved line. This is Riemannian or Spherical Geometry. Both systems of geometry exist in Mathematics. Mathematics does not claim to state that Euclidean Geometry is reality any more than Riemannian Geometry. I mean the earth isn't even a perfect sphere. #circlesarenotreal However, many "applied" disciplines have found the use of Mathematics in approximating reality to be extremely useful. Thus, we have circular trash cans, and we fly large distances using curved lines. I would say the discussion represents some form of failure in our education system, but our education system wasn't really built to make people erudite #shoutouttobeingdivergent, so we probably should ignore "philosophical" discussions being had by television personalities and look for a good podcast on these topics by experts who care to share their field in a way that can be understood by lay people.

Finally, I would like to suggest that our liberal caricature in this video has done all of us a great favor. We can all stop talking about racism because there is no more racism. #racismisnotreal Why? Well, let's try making a rough analogy. Humans are "contrast machines". We are really great at telling the difference between two things. We are horrible at giving precise answers. Two classic examples. If I give you two buckets of water, one hot and one cold. I bet you can tell me which is the hot one and which is the cold one. But I bet you can't accurately tell me what the temperature is of each bucket by using your hands. Like wise. I show you two skyscrapers. I bet you can tell me which is taller, but you can't tell me the height of each. The same goes for information. Take any discussion, and I might not be able to tell you if it is 100% true, but I can tell you if the statement is objective or not. Note, 2+2=4 is objectively true. #2plus2isnot5 "Trump is racist" is not objectively true. It is a subjective statement. We may never know the truth of it and Trump may never know either. There is a lot going on in a person's brain that they are not fully aware of. We take our ability to build imaginative stories as a species for granted. It's an amazing talent that allows us to fool ourselves all the time. #talkingmonkeysonaflyingrock #canceljoerogan

So let's say that there is no longer "hot". There is only cold. You have actually fallen into Disney's "Incredibles" greatest philosophical point. "[W]hen everyone's super, no one will be." #syndromewasright #canceldisney If everything is cold, then cold no longer exists. As such, without objective reality, there is no subjective reality. We have officially killed reality in all its forms. #weareinasimulation Everything is subjective which means nothing is subjective. Everyone is racist, so no one is racist. It's like a crazy Schrodinger's cat. The cat is both dead and alive. #schrodingeranimalcruelty No wait. It's a zombie cat! #catzombiesmatter Our friends in this juicy clip have helped us resolve one of the great conflicts within our society. Racism is Dead! And we are all the better for it. #letsstoptalkingaboutrace

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