I have developed a theory on the origins of mathematics.
Or at least, I think I developed it, my Google searches have
not resulted in any similar thoughts, so I’d appreciate any commentary on this
topic that folks have or discover.
I started by thinking about music.
One of the radio stations I listen to (KDHX.org – an
incredibly interesting and eclectic public radio station) was interviewing a
musician. I apologize that I do not recall his name. During the interview the
musician mentioned that music is really composed of a lot of physics and math.
From vibration and frequency, to the physical impact of air density and
eventually including the math of music notation - which is full of ½ notes, ¼
notes, rests (you get my point). It
takes a lot of math to make music, even if you are not aware of it.
What I then started wondering about was the origin of the
human experience with music. Music seems to have been with us since the dawn of
our consciousness. The earliest known flutes date from 35,000 to 43,000 years
ago. And these are the flutes that survived. The human voice has been with us
all along (approximately 150,000 years) and we probably have been singing the
majority of that time. Many suspect that instrumental music in some form
(drums, hollow logs, vibrating gut strings, bone flutes) has been around since
the very beginning, but evidence of these instruments has simply vanished, back
into the earth.
Therefore, we seem to have been making music since our
inception. Perhaps even before Homo Sapiens (us) with the human lines that came
before us and even with our cousins, the Neanderthal. Music is part of what
makes “us”, it really is part of our DNA.
Humanity, then, it seems, is not the toy maker, but the
music maker.
So here’s my theory – since Music is based upon mathematics,
it was Music itself that configured the human mind to conceive of mathematics
to begin with. It re-engineered our brains (as all technology does) to
understand the fundamental characteristics of the universe (what better way than
with harmony, eh?). Music led us to perceive the mathematics that constitute the
fabric of space and time itself. We did not “invent” math, we “discovered” it,
and Music was the ship that got us there.
And once we discovered the universe of math, we re-engineered
the world. Math is in everything we do - - it’s in our houses, our cars, our
communications, our medicine, our energy our space station, our economy, our
moon and Mars exploration and anything else you can think of that has a
technology basis to it. Math allows us to peer into the heavens and understand
the stars. And one day, math will take us to the stars as well.
I wonder what kind of music we will be playing along the
way?
"Across the Universe" by the Beatles?
"For first we use machines, then we wear machines, then we become machines."
Kim William Gordon
www.bitnus.com
www.kimwilliamgordon.com
2 comments:
One of the interesting math/music interfaces is that an octave higher on a stringed instrument is half the distance along the string. That makes me think about how it is that we perceive sameness in notes an octave apart. We're wired for it!
PS this is Mary Steinau - I didn't realize I would be identified as "Moke"
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