Comment by essai57

What do you mean by "the social aspects of math" here? Even some of the earliest known mathematical texts (like the Rhind Papyrus) contain evidence of a social aspect of math. And certainly mathematical discussions occurred among the ancient Greeks. People have been exchanging mathematical ideas for millennia. If you mean to say that the current academic organization of mathematics is a recent phenomenon, that's certainly true. But pretty much all the math history we know has been people communicating with each other, evaluating each other's ideas and developing them further. Given this, I understand why people are worried if the field should suddenly take a non-social form.