[lit-ideas] Of flying and counting
- From: Andy <min.erva@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, THEORIA@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2008 16:49:43 -0800 (PST)
Just want to say that I heard some hopeful news about the economy today. U.S.
exports are slated for a possible rebirth. It seems the falling dollar has
made the U.S. an interesting place for foreigners like Air Bus to build
factories in. Also, it seems that nothing beats high oil prices like high oil
prices. In other words, the high oil prices are causing trucking companies to
partner with railroads to begin shipping products by rail instead of by road.
That means large investments in rail infrastructure. All of that's good news
for the economy.
I want to say that I ordered some DVD's from The Teaching Company. I ordered
some lectures on art which I haven't opened yet, and also a lecture series on
numbers. It's quite good. We watched the first three segments (30 minutes
each). I don't know why I was rather surprised that in most of mankind's
history, something like the first 30,000 years (if I remember correctly) there
were literally no numbers. Over time people learned to use counting methods
such as using as many pebbles as they had sheep to make sure all the sheep were
accounted for. And of course, parts of the hand, including joints (so you
could count to 20 using two hands), and then add toes, were used. Over time
humans (same brains as you and me) learned to use notched sticks (stocks)
which they split in two (half for you, half for me; origin of the word
stockholder) to mark a certain grain exchange say.
There was a 1,700 year time period between at least one pretty basic by our
standards discovery involving numbers. Negative numbers were rejected even as
late as 200 years ago. Cuneiform was actually a counting method for
transactions that eventually became the forerunner of writing.
China as well as other civilizations (like the Maya) also had very
sophisticated methods but their evidence mostly disappeared due to the more
humid weather, where clay tablets survived in hot dry climate. I realized we
today learn in the first few years of our lives what took literally tens of
thousands of years for humanity to develop. Who would think that counting, or
a fraction like one-half, isn't self evident? But it isn't. It had to be
discovered and taught and it took most of history to discover.
Also, crows can count to the number four, which is as high as humans can
recognize in one clump, say four sheep. More than four of something we have to
count. That's the reason the "gated five" was developed, i.e., the four
vertical lines with a horizontal line through them that we use to count by 5's.
And truly, what is a number? What is the number 2, or a number 9 for example?
I can't answer that and I don't know whether by the end of the series he will
either. Really interesting stuff.
---------------------------------
Looking for last minute shopping deals? Find them fast with Yahoo! Search.
Other related posts:
