Canals and waterwaysOn 13, Sep 2007, at 18:22, Andy Greener wrote: > Yes, if we'd had eight fingers instead, and an octal system of > counting instead of decimal, I suspect that the mechanisation of > binary arithmetic would have been developed far earlier, perhaps long > before the discovery of electricity.
Makes me wonder how things might have evolved had the 3 toed sloth the wit and need to invent the computer. Beeky Much better for it to have subcontracted to the 2-toed sloth! (Anyone know the Flanders & Swann story about 'The Sloth'?) It could have been worse - early land-living amphibians had 7 or 6 fingers and it only needs a minor adjustment in early development to change the number - apparently some big dogs can have 6 toes and of course many animals have less than 5. Sean
