"Therefore, Aboriginal tribe is a flock of geese." Cause science bitch! Date: Fri, 18 Oct 2013 15:18:52 +0200 Subject: [CPT-FGC] Re: [CPT-RPG] Re: Stuff off From: ilitirit@xxxxxxxxx To: cpt-fgc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Some birds also have that bug.. erm feature. Some scientists believed they had magnetic beaks, but the theory was recently debunked. Now they think that birds just have a way of sensing the Earth's magnetic field (this was actually a plot device used in the series LOST that was never fully explored). Maybe peope from those tribes have trained themselves to unconsiously detect fields to make up for their lack of expressing direction? Or: Birds can't talk about direction, can sense magnetic north Aboriginal tribe can't talk about direction, can sense magnetic north. Therefore, Aboriginal tribe is a flock of geese. On Fri, Oct 18, 2013 at 3:01 PM, Donaldson, Alasdair <alasdair.donaldson@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote: I’ve read about languages without the concept of direction. A lack of a word for a direction actually makes it very difficult for the people to remember where things are. Similarly there are a tribe of Aborigines who use the cardinal directions instead of normal left and right and stuff. So they’d say ‘just go 20 meters NW, then another 50m NNW or stuff like that’. One of the strange things is that you can blind fold the guy and put him most anywhere and intuitively he knows which direction is north. From: cpt-fgc-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:cpt-fgc-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Ilitirit Sama Sent: 18 October 2013 2:57 PM To: cpt-fgc@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [CPT-FGC] Re: [CPT-RPG] Re: Stuff off Some of you guys may have read about the Pirahã. They are a tribe in the Amazon that whose language doesn't have a concept of numbers. Our vs their understanding of quantities is akin to digital vs analog. This is the best case of the Dunning-Kruger effect I've read about so far: Nothing about the Pirahã's self-contained way of life seems to require quantity recognition over three, says Everett, a fact that's not lost on outsiders, who sometimes take advantage of them when trading goods. The Pirahã consider all forms of human discourse other than their own to be laughably inferior, and they are unique among Amazonian peoples in remaining monolingual. http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2013/10/16/piraha_cognitive_anumeracy_in_a_language_without_numbers.html The information in this e-mail is confidential and may be legally privileged. It is intended solely for the addressee. Access to this e-mail by anyone else is unauthorized. If you have received this communication in error, please address with the subject heading "Received in error," send to the sender, then delete the e-mail and destroy any copies of it. If you are not the intended recipient, any disclosure, copying, distribution or any action taken or omitted to be taken in reliance on it, is prohibited and may be unlawful. Any opinions or advice contained in this e-mail are subject to the terms and conditions expressed in the governing KPMG client engagement letter. Opinions, conclusions and other information in this e-mail and any attachments that do not relate to the official business of the firm are neither given nor endorsed by it. KPMG cannot guarantee that e-mail communications are secure or error-free, as information could be intercepted, corrupted, amended, lost, destroyed, arrive late or incomplete, or contain viruses. This email is being sent out by KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”) on behalf of the local KPMG member firm providing services to you. KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”) is a Swiss cooperative that serves as a coordinating entity for a network of independent firms operating under the KPMG name. KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”) provides no services to clients. Each member firm of KPMG International Cooperative (“KPMG International”) is a legally distinct and separate entity and each describes itself as such. Information about the structure and jurisdiction of your local KPMG member firm can be obtained from your KPMG representative. This footnote also confirms that this e-mail message has been swept by AntiVirus software.