Is There a Universal Truth?

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In 19 84, in the book with the fasest authoritarian government write, one of the ultimate things that they say is that they 're gong to tell you that two plus two does not equal four equals five. And i think that it's compelling to think about how math is a force against disinformation and authoritarianism because it doesn't allow for that kind of distortion to be true. We need to be able to stand up and defend the truth, even if it's messy and complicated.

Every day, we humans do math. Whether we are obsessed with a logic puzzle on our smartphones or even just calculating a morning alarm that gives you 8 more minutes in bed, our daily lives are full of numbers, quantities, shapes and patterns. And for Francis Su—a writer and Professor of Mathematics and the Former President of the Mathematical Association of America—math is actually one of the things that makes us human. In today’s episode he talks about how mathematics can serve as a tool for social justice, how math can enhance our sense of aesthetics and beauty, why math is one of the last refuges of truth in a time where misinformation is rampant, and how we can all learn to cultivate, and even come to love, the little daily mathematics of our lives.