Society urgently needs to shift its view of mathematics. It’s time for everyone to regard numeracy with the same kind of importance as literacy.
We are at an unparalleled point in history where our everyday experiences are governed by mathematical structures. Doctors make medical diagnoses, judges decide criminal sentences, and actuaries set insurance premiums on the basis of algorithms and computing systems that all run on the principles of mathematics.
And they should - many of the problems we must solve are far too complex for any single human being to comprehend on their own. The industrial revolution devised mechanical muscles to work on tasks that we find physically impossible; the information revolution is devising mechanical minds to work on tasks that we find mentally impossible.
This is why mathematics is key to human flourishing. Just as advances in agriculture and industrial technology allowed us to feed masses and keep cities healthy, advances in mathematical thinking form the underpinning of modern society as we know it.