alt Hacker NewsWith the same line of reasoning you can argue (and some have) that numbers aren’t fundamental and are only made up by humans. In my view, the number of swans in the pond is three whether humans exist or not.
With the same line of reasoning you can argue (and some have) that numbers aren’t fundamental and are only made up by humans. In my view, the number of swans in the pond is three whether humans exist or not.
I think that's conflating distinct concepts. Numbers aren't a physical property. Whether or not they're a fundamental concept is largely a philosophical question.
Meanwhile temperature (for example), while physical, is a statistical property of a macroscopic system. It isn't fundamental - rather it's an abstraction over a (very) large set - but it is nonetheless a quantification of physical characteristics. Whereas a number, for example 2 rocks, is not quantifying any physical property of the individual rocks themselves.