The linguist George Lakoff, of the University of California, Berkeley, along with Rafael Nunez, a cognitive scientist at the University of California, San Diego, have for several years advanced the argument that much of mathematics, from set theory to trigonometry to the concept of infinity, derives not from immutable properties of the universe but from the evolutionary history of the human brain and body. Our number system, they argue, and our understanding of addition and subtraction emerge from the fact that we are bipedal animals that measure off distances in discrete steps."If we had wheels, or moved along the ground on our bellies like snakes," Lakoff argues, "math might be very different."
Saturday, January 26, 2008
indiscrete mathematics?
This is one of the most interesting ideas I've heard in a long time:
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I think it's interesting that people credit as plausible--at least the "numbers are optional" suggestion. I could imagine that many kinds of formalisms--cartesian vs spherical polar coordinates, say--might not have come to exist among aliens, but if they have cultures with individuals and populations, I can't imagine ones with any smarts neglecting to invent numbers. Any creature that has an orientational preference and is free to rotate relative to anything it cares about might care how many times it's gone around. We'd be counting days and years even if we were intelligent snakes, because snakes sleep, mind the winter and car what's in season on the menu.
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