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