On 2011-09-13 07:43, Shrisha Rao wrote:
El sep 13, 2011, a las 3:00 a.m., Philip TAYLOR (Webmaster, Ret'd) escribió:
Tobias Schoel wrote:
Shouldn't real dinosaurs (real as in MTV Real Life) calculate using only the
Peano Axioms and the unary system? I mean, the natural numbers and the peano
axioms are nature given / god given (choose whatever you like) and every human
before homo sapiens had only the cognitive capabilities to use the unary
system: “Hey, I saw ||||| deer, let's go hunt them.” “Oh no, I saw ||| lions,
they would kill us.”
Are you sure ? My understanding of palæoanthropology is that, long
before man was able to differentiate ||||| deer from |||||||| deer,
he could tell | deer from || deer from> || deer, and that was the
limit of his calculating ability.
I believe four is the limit to which humans can subitize even now, though idiot savants
like Kim Peek ("Rain Man") are claimed to be able to do many more. See
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6577241.stm for an item and small experiment.
Try to beat this http://youtu.be/zJAH4ZJBiN8 and feel even more foolish
after watching http://youtu.be/zJAH4ZJBiN8 ;)
Regards,
Shrisha Rao
** Phil.
--------------------------------------------------
Subscriptions, Archive, and List information, etc.:
http://tug.org/mailman/listinfo/xetex
--------------------------------------------------
Subscriptions, Archive, and List information, etc.:
http://tug.org/mailman/listinfo/xetex
