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How Inevitable Is the Concept of Numbers?
Computational Essay Stephen Wolfram Computational Essay Stephen Wolfram

How Inevitable Is the Concept of Numbers?

Stephen Wolfram

The aliens arrive in a starship. Surely, one might think, to have all that technology they must have the idea of numbers. Or maybe one finds an uncontacted tribe deep in the jungle. Surely they too must have the idea of numbers. To us numbers seem so natural—and “obvious”—that it’s hard to imagine everyone wouldn’t have them. But if one digs a little deeper, it’s not so clear.

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