A Proof of God's Existence (according to Vonnegut)

The "Theorem"

Theorem
God exits

Proof. There is music.
q.e.d.

This proof can be attributed to Kurt Vonnegut. Of course he didn't say it this way, he said, "If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:

THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC"

(For the full article see, Blues for America.)

The Mathematics Point of View

Mathematics probably can't say much about the existence of God directly. That is, Mathematics can not directly prove the existence of God, nor disprove the existence of God. But what about Vonnegut's proof. From a mathematical/logical point of view we need a definition of God and music, and with the theorem presented as it is, the definition of music and God must be related. But maybe that's what Vonnegut means. Or maybe he would have phrased things like this:

Theorem If there is music, then there is God.
Proof. Suppose, for the sake of contradiction, that God doesn't exist. Then there is no cause for music and thus music would not exist. But music does exist so we've reached a contradiction and therefore we conclude God also exists.
q.e.d.

This proof is abstracted from what Vonnegut says of music, "Why it works, I can't imagine." (source) He's got a good point. Not that we can't analyze, scientifically, our brains interaction with music. But from his perspective, we don't need the science to know that a well placed rhythm makes us tap our feet and nod our head, and a good melody can destroy our other 4 senses and send us to a sonic and mental world of its choosing.

My Thoughts

Of course I can't say that the proof of God's existence is sound from a purely mathematical/logical viewpoint. But I think it's valid. More than that, if you replace the word Music in Vonnegut's epitaph with the word, Math, Art, Science, Love, or Laughter, the statement is just as meaningful. (what word would you use? leave a comment!)

I'll end with the following quotes taken from Second Year Calculus by Bressoud

"Had I been present at the creation, I would have given some useful hints for the better ordering of the universe."
-attributed to King Alfonso X of Castile (1221-1284)

[Newton] has so clearly laid open and set before our eyes the most beautiful frame of the System of the World, that if King Alfonso were now alive, he would not complain for want of the graces either of simplicity or of harmony in it.
-Roger Cotes, from the Preface to the second edition of Philosophie Naturalis Principia Mathematica (1713)