I don't see the chain, but I might be overlooking something super obvious (or not so obvious)
Arithmetic isn't super helpful for calculus, but it's real tough (for me) to construct calculus without a notion of +.
So, I don't have any evidence of math, the very narrow branch of math in the sense of algebra, and proofs without electric meat. I'm open to a very broad definition. I think, we agree that two different things are equal, and if we change both sides the same way, they're still equal. that kind of gives us algebra.
Does anything else do that? Does anything else preserve equality that's not just simple physics?
Again, I'm wildly unqualified to make this argument, but maybe I learn something amazing.
How do you "close the knot"? I've got some computer science background and I can mostly deal with fix points. In what way would neuroscience be free from the underlying systems? I'm pretty sure I can represent computation with gears or electrons or marbles, or whatever, but those are rooted in physics. I'm super curious how you might represent neuroscience, language and culture without that foundation.