From Cannibal’s Diary: On the Benefits of Trying to Cut Up Mothers and Mathematics (In Polish)

[Draft - Forthcoming Publication]

Outline:

In this essay, I dismantle the intuitive but flawed assumption that the history of mathematics is a single, uninterrupted highway from ancient Greece to modern times. By comparing the foundations of Greek and Babylonian mathematical traditions, I highlight how the two ancient cultures approached numerical problem-solving from fundamentally different angles.

While the Greeks revolutionized the field through deductive reasoning, abstract geometry, and formal proofs, the Babylonians relied on a highly effective empirical and pragmatic methodology. Instead of dismissing the Babylonian approach as primitive, the piece explores computer scientist Donald Knuth’s provocative theory that they were actually practicing an early form of computer science.

Their reliance on testing, approximation, and algorithms—rather than theoretical proofs—mirrors modern computing perfectly. Ultimately, I argue that the Hellenistic scientific revolution succeeded precisely by combining Greek systematic logic with this Eastern pragmatism.

Subtitle: Origins of Green and Babylonian Maths

Unpublished manuscript - publication details to be updated