I think this discussion of convergent evolution is pretty interesting in context [0]. Namely, "intelligence" arises from natural-selection (ie from some non-in

I think this discussion of convergent evolution is pretty interesting in context [0]. Namely, "intelligence" arises from natural-selection (ie from some non-intelligent predecessor that developed incrementally to better fit its environment)... and the process of natural-selection would necessarily lead to various commonalities between intelligent creatures that came to be independently. PG's essay seems to (implicitly, not explicitly) compare between technologically-sophisticated intelligence - ie not between octopuses and humans, but between species that could at least communicate through inter-stellar distances, if not traverse them directly. If so, convergent evolution would have imposed even more onerous similarities between such species: to develop a radio-transmitter, intelligent creatures would also likely to have been very socially developed, or how else would they have been able to transform the resources around them to build a transmitter? Therefore it is the physical world in which we live that most likely leads us to conceive "math" similarly... and even "justice." [1] [0] https://www.quantamagazine.org/arik-kershenbaum-on-why-alien-life-may-be-like-life-on-earth-20210318/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/arik-kershenbaum-on-why-alien... [1] tit-for-tat being one of the best strategies to solve an infinitely-recurring prisoner's dilemma