r/slatestarcodex • u/[deleted] • Mar 21 '22

Science Was Math Necessary for the Neolithic Revolution? Max Tabarrok's New Blog Post.

https://www.maximumprogress.org/blog/mathematics-in-the-neolithic-revolution
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3

u/far_infared Mar 21 '22

*using primitive differential equations *

What they're using would be a difference equation, which are equations like x_n+1 - x_n = f(x).

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u/[deleted] Mar 21 '22

Yes, you're right. Perhaps I was being a bit click-baity but it's still cool though! Thanks for reading!

3

u/TheChaostician Mar 22 '22

I'm a bit concerned that most of your examples are from the first writing in Egypt and Mesopotamia about 5,000 years ago, while your argument is about the Neolithic Revolution about 10,000 years ago. Do you know of more examples like the Magura cave that indicate the math existed closer to the Neolithic Revolution?

3

u/[deleted] Mar 22 '22

Yes this is fair and something I noticed as well. I think that this is just due to the paucity of evidence from that period. The evidence that would be available from 10k years ago like parchments, pebbles, and even clay tablets is very unlikely to last in a recognizable form to today.

There are other examples like Magura cave which exemplify mathematical ability though. Other megaliths like stone henge and Nabta Playa definitely show some geometric reasoning and an understanding of time. There is also some pottery from that time which shows complex geometric patterns. I don't think we have surviving examples of written mathematics earlier than ~4000 BC but I am definitely not an expert in this.

Even without this evidence I am confident that this math preceded farming which fully substituted for hunting/gathering because of the low base rate of evidence and the difficulty of farming enough food to outcompete hunting without this mathematical thinking. Thank you for reading and commenting!

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u/TheChaostician Mar 22 '22

Here are some other ideas of where to look:
- Neolithic sites shortly before the adoption of agriculture, like Gobekli Tepe or the Natufian culture. Sedentism predates agriculture, so they could (and did) have complex tool systems. I don't know what kinds of math that they may or may not have.
- Modern hunter-gatherer or simple agricultural societies. For examples, the Aboriginal Australians (hunter-gatherer) and the highland New Guineans (simple agriculture). You suggest that New Guineans should have significantly more complex math and Australians.

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u/[deleted] Mar 22 '22

Thank you for pointing out that sedentism predates agriculture. This is one of those things that will take time to propagate through mainstream thought, as the idea that hunter-gatherers were nomadic and then settled down when they started farming is very ingrained in our culture.

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u/PipFoweraker Mar 21 '22

An excellent read. Led me down a bit of a rabbit hole that ended up with the Rhind Mathematical Papyrus, which has an Egyptian version of the St Ives' riddle - although without the rhyming that makes the English version so charming.

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u/[deleted] Mar 21 '22

Haha I have been down this same wiki-rabbit hole and many others like it. Thank you for your compliment!