I actually don't think this is true. Multiplication isn't some natural phenomenon that humans just stumbled upon, like gravity or nuclear energy, even if it do

I actually don't think this is true. Multiplication isn't some natural phenomenon that humans just stumbled upon, like gravity or nuclear energy, even if it does help to explain some observable phenomena. Multiplication is entirely a human idea -- it only exists in human brains. Multiplication was only "discovered" in the same way love, or music, or any of the liberal arts were "discovered" -- which is to say, not at all. I guess the straightforward counterargument here is that if multiplication only exists in humans' minds how can computers do it, but computers have absolutely zero autonomy -- a computer can't compute a product, or even "discover" multiplication without receiving explicit intructions from a human to do so -- in my mind a computer can't be deemed the one discovering multiplication if that discovery relied 100% on the design of human beings.