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Why would a culture that has no trade need numbers? Approximate buckets are good enough for the hunter-gatherer lifestyle. After all, it were Sumerian traders
by apostlion 13y ago
Why would a culture that has no trade need numbers? Approximate buckets are good enough for the hunter-gatherer lifestyle.
After all, it were Sumerian traders and bureaucrats who gave us both figures -and- numbers -and- a way to write them down.
- curiousdannii 13y ago"How many children/pigs/dogs are in the house? Did we forget any?"
- adamnemecek 13y agoYeah, or alternatively how many wolves are approaching? It seems like it would be advantageous to be able to communicate whether 5 or 50.
- Theodores 13y agoThree. You must be referring to the legendary 3 Wolf T-Shirt available on Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Original-Three-Wolf-Adult-T-Shirt/dp/B002DGFYFA http://www.amazon.co.uk/Original-Three-Wolf-Adult-T-Shirt/dp... Just get the T-Shirt and read the reviews - famously funny. There aren't any wolves in the Amazon rainforest - not enough bins for them to go through, apparently.
- petsos 13y agoWhat would you do differently if it was 5 or 8 wolves? Having concepts like "a few" and "a lot" seems to be enough for this case.
- prof_hobart 13y agoDecide whether to send one or two of your group of 8 hunters after each of the wolves?
- apostlion 13y agoFuzzy buckets are wonderful for exactly this kind of case. If you're alone, it doesn't matter whether there are 5 or 50 wolves - you're fucked anyway. On the other hand, if you're a scout for an armed band of hunters, 5 are no longer “a lot”, it is “some” - and 50 is a lot.
- pavel_lishin 13y agoThat seems to be where the distinction between hói and hoí would come in.
- petsos 13y agoDid we forget any to our way to the mall maybe? Animals seem to be able to handle their young ones without counting them too.