Would aliens understand lambda calculus? (2018)
The problem with the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis as an argument against academic knowledge is it may be true for the general population, however, the entire purpose of STEM academia is to subvert the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis.  Teaching a kid quantum mechanics or calculus inherently has little to do with the general population&#x27;s belief in religion or astrology or virtue signalling, for example.<p>The average Joe_6_Pack Arrival movie heptapod might culturally have an easier or harder time learning lambda calculus; its certain that the only people (well, heptapods) who would matter, the CS academics, would be quite familiar with lambda calculus.<p>STEM has a dependency chain such that its hard to do quantum mechanics without something like statistical thermodynamics and basic probability theory.  Thus, cultures without statistical thermodynamics, like Ancient Rome or non-European cultures in general never developed quantum mechanics, therefore no nifty MOSFET transistors therefore no electric cars or industrial VFDs therefore no solar non-petrochemical energy industry therefore they die out or are replaced with more advanced cultures before interstellar travel is reached.<p>We don&#x27;t know the dependency chain for interstellar travel but the more complicated things are, the more fragile they are, always, so its HIGHLY likely any two interstellar cultures would have identical dependency chains to pass various gates along the path.  You can play games with early steam engines burning lignite or peat and it won&#x27;t matter terribly much at the time or in the long run, but it seems there&#x27;s only one way, using metal catalysts, to &quot;invent&quot; your first organic chemistry hydrogenation process, for example.  You can make steel in a low tech medieval blacksmiths shop, but transistors have tighter constraints.  Most of advanced civilization is a mask over fragile, complicated, and delicate dependency chains.<p>We&#x27;d like to think we&#x27;re on the path to interstellar travel rather than self destruction, so obviously all interstellar aliens would have lambda calculus much like ourselves, because the gates we have to pass thru only pyramid and narrow as the task gets more complicated.  And interstellar travel seems likely to be complicated.