Some ideas to study the evolution of mathematics

Abstract

Evolutionary psychology can shed light on mathematical abilities. To do so, it must be supplied with a strong model of cultural evolution. Natural selection endowed us with some modules, like the number sense or the logical module, useful for mathematics. Then cultural evolution tinkered with them to create modern mathematics. Of particular significance during cultural evolution is ancient Greece, where a feedback loop that stressed the importance of formal proofs was engaged. Ever since, mathematicians have been engaged in a quest for relevance that uses formal proofs as an indicator of relevance. This led to modern mathematics. Nonetheless, mathematics relies on cognitive mechanisms that were empirically acquired during phylogenetic evolution, and this explains their ‘unreasonable effectiveness’.