  A perplexing problem in understanding physical reality is why the universe
seems comprehensible, and correspondingly why there should exist physical
systems capable of comprehending it. In this essay I explore the possibility
that rather than being an odd coincidence arising due to our strange position
as passive (and even more strangely, conscious) observers in the cosmos, these
two problems might be related and could be explainable in terms of fundamental
physics. The perspective presented suggests a potential unified framework
where, when taken together, comprehenders and comprehensibility are part of
causal structure of physical reality, which is considered as a causal graph
(network) connecting states that are physically possible. I argue that in some
local regions, the most probable states are those that include physical systems
which contain information encodings - such as mathematics, language and art -
because these are the most highly connected to other possible states in this
causal graph. Such physical systems include life and - of particular interest
for the discussion of the place of math in physical reality - comprehenders
capable of making mathematical sense of the world. Within this framework, the
descent of math is an undirected outcome of the evolution of the universe,
which will tend toward states that are increasingly connected to other possible
states of the universe, a process greatly facilitated if some physical systems
know the rules of the game. I therefore conclude that our ability to use
mathematics to describe, and more importantly manipulate, the natural world may
not be an anomaly or trick, but instead could provide clues to the underlying
causal structure of physical reality.

History and Philosophy of Physics