Apr 30, 2026 03:59 PM
https://skepticalinquirer.org/2026/04/do...th-aliens/
EXCERPTS: Do we have evidence to support the idea that we will have math and physics in common with aliens?
[...] Before humanity had a single interconnected global scientific community, ancient cultures independently worked to understand the cosmos. If these cultures took their first steps in dramatically different scientific directions, it would suggest that alien investigators might diverge even further from our intellectual journey, depending on their divergent biology and experience. So, what does history say about the convergent or divergent emergence of math and physics? The evidence is mixed.
[...] And it is here that many great thinkers, including prominent scientists, proceed confidently. They argue, for example, that math is not a human construction but inherent to the universe, something that any aliens must also discover...
[...] But as is always the case with philosophy, the lack of hard data means there are also strong arguments on the other side. These do not appeal as much to our intuition and dampen the possibility for interspecies scientific exchange, but skepticism insists we keep an open mind.
Hartry Field (2016) argued, for example, that while math is obviously very useful, it may not be actually necessary. He went on to build a theory of gravitation that avoids using fields or even the notion of numbers themselves. It’s not a pretty or convenient alternative, but it suggests that core elements of mathematics might be more like human mental shorthand than the bare mechanisms of the universe.
There are similar arguments against the universality of our physics, which is obviously quite powerful but neither exact nor fundamental, so may not be a unique description of how planets and particles behave. Alien scientists may experience the same universe as we do but might find other, more alien, ways to express it.
If we do not share math and physics in common with aliens, it may be much more difficult to establish communication with them. It also makes it less likely that they would share an interest in our questions about the universe and punctures our hopes that we might download advanced alien knowledge of physics... (MORE - missing details)
EXCERPTS: Do we have evidence to support the idea that we will have math and physics in common with aliens?
[...] Before humanity had a single interconnected global scientific community, ancient cultures independently worked to understand the cosmos. If these cultures took their first steps in dramatically different scientific directions, it would suggest that alien investigators might diverge even further from our intellectual journey, depending on their divergent biology and experience. So, what does history say about the convergent or divergent emergence of math and physics? The evidence is mixed.
[...] And it is here that many great thinkers, including prominent scientists, proceed confidently. They argue, for example, that math is not a human construction but inherent to the universe, something that any aliens must also discover...
[...] But as is always the case with philosophy, the lack of hard data means there are also strong arguments on the other side. These do not appeal as much to our intuition and dampen the possibility for interspecies scientific exchange, but skepticism insists we keep an open mind.
Hartry Field (2016) argued, for example, that while math is obviously very useful, it may not be actually necessary. He went on to build a theory of gravitation that avoids using fields or even the notion of numbers themselves. It’s not a pretty or convenient alternative, but it suggests that core elements of mathematics might be more like human mental shorthand than the bare mechanisms of the universe.
There are similar arguments against the universality of our physics, which is obviously quite powerful but neither exact nor fundamental, so may not be a unique description of how planets and particles behave. Alien scientists may experience the same universe as we do but might find other, more alien, ways to express it.
If we do not share math and physics in common with aliens, it may be much more difficult to establish communication with them. It also makes it less likely that they would share an interest in our questions about the universe and punctures our hopes that we might download advanced alien knowledge of physics... (MORE - missing details)
