Description:
In the Lascaux cave, just below the painting of a large stag, there is a drawing that is as discreet as it is fascinating: a simple rectangle. This figure reminds us that the dawn of humanity is also the dawn of geometry.
Before sketching realistic drawings, early humans all over the world constantly drew geometric patterns: squares, rectangles, circles or spirals, parallel or perpendicular lines... Where do these archetypes, common to all cultures, come from? Is the human species the only one to have mastered geometry? And if so, why?
Stanislas Dehaene, a mathematics enthusiast, seeks the source of this in the brain. According to him, any geometric figure, even one as basic as a rectangle, reflects a fundamental characteristic of human cognition: the ability to form symbolic thoughts and build an infinite pyramid of concepts on this basis. These shapes correspond to the simplest expressions of the universal language of thought that all human brains are endowed with. What sets us apart from other animal species is our ability to combine ideas. We are beginning to understand how the brain represents language - spoken, mathematical or musical. The search for the neural code that makes us a unique species, the "symbolic species", is one of the most exciting questions in contemporary neuroscience.
A remarkable neurobiological investigation,
in search of what makes us human.
