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June 16, 2020 - Davis Aurini
07:27
Do Prime Numbers have a Buddha Nature?

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So in this video, I want to talk about prime numbers and whether or not they have a Buddha nature.
The great Zen master said once, do dogs have a Buddha nature?
Well, let's ignore the dog question for a moment.
Space dog is asleep on the couch and she's not going to be joining us for this video.
Let's instead ask the question, are maps true?
Well, yes.
Yes, of course.
A map is true.
That is, the map tells you what the land looks like.
Of course, it's true.
No, maps aren't true.
Maps are a gross oversimplification that tries to take this diverse territory and cram it into this small little square you have in front of you.
You know, the more detailed your map, the longer the coastline is.
How long is a coastline?
Depends on your level of detail, because every little squiggle adds a little bit more distance.
So maps, maps are true, and maps are false, and maps have a Buddha nature.
Now what about prime numbers?
So I recently did a video where I was talking about the proof of infinite primes.
I was talking about mathematical proofs versus scientific proofs, etc.
Well, I'd like to go back to that, that proof of infinite primes.
And I'll briefly cover it here.
Link down below if you want the thorough explanation.
Because once you understand the proof, you know there are infinite primes.
And the proof goes like this.
You take the highest prime number that you can think of.
We're going to go for 7 in this example.
Then you factorial it.
You take 7 times 6 times 5 times 4 times 3 times 2.
This gives you a result of 5040.
Now add 1 to that number.
By definition, this number is not divisible by 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, or 2.
So either it is a prime number, or it's a product of a prime number higher than 7.
And sure enough, it turns out to be the square of 71, the 20th prime number.
So by this proof alone, and you do this method to any prime number, factorial it, then add 1, you're going to have a number which proves that there's a higher prime number.
So there's an infinite number of prime numbers.
But here's the crazy part.
We know there's an infinite number of primes.
We don't know where they are.
The thing about a prime number is we state prime number as if it's a discernible thing.
But it's not.
Quite the opposite.
A prime number is a number that we can't find without brute forcing it, without walking.
Like there's no map for the prime numbers.
Our map says they are infinite, but it does not say where they are.
The only way we can find a prime number is by walking the territory, by taking every number and brute forcing it.
The definition of a prime number is a number that cannot be predicted, that cannot be formulaic, that cannot be arrived at through arithmetic equations.
It's a known unknown.
I really want you to think about this, how crazy this is, that we know there are infinite prime numbers, but we have no idea where they are.
And we will never know where they are.
Like, we know all the even numbers.
All the even numbers are very easy to figure out.
You can't make up a number, no matter how big, that I would say, huh?
I'm not sure if that's an even number or not.
No, we know what the evens and the odds are.
Same thing with the squares.
Squares can be arrived at very easily.
Not the prime numbers.
You have to brute force it.
And see, this is pointing towards something very crucial in Zen Buddhism.
Okay, the and Taoism.
The Tao which can be spoken is not the true Tao.
The Tao is bigger than what can be spoken.
The same way, the prime number, we say prime number as if we know what we're talking about.
We don't know what we're talking about.
We know some of the prime numbers.
We don't know all of them and we never will.
The Tao which can be spoken is not the true Tao.
And numbers which can be formulated are not prime.
So we have this massive gap in our knowledge.
We know they're out there, we don't know where they are.
The only way we can know them is to walk along the beach until we find them.
And so what is knowledge then?
If we know it's true that there's infinite, but we can't find them.
We can prove they exist, but we don't know where they exist.
What does this tell us about knowledge in general?
What conclusions should we make about our day-to-day choices, our moral decisions, our pragmatic decisions?
If there's knowledge that we know but we can't know, there's a tree a lot of life, but surrounding the tree of life is other life that we can't see.
I think the only sane conclusion is to acknowledge with humbleness that prime numbers do have a Buddha nature.
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