one, two, three, many
Societies are known to sociologists by, among other things, their counting systems. In some societies the counting system is "one/two/many," which means that there's a word for one, and there's a word for two, but then there's no word for any number higher than that but a word that means "several" or "many." Then there's "one/two/three/many," for folks who have one and two and three, but then nothing higher than that aside from generalities.
In advanced societies, of course, we have more. We can conceive of seven of something, or 16, or 200. We have a sense of how much seventy thousand dollars is, and how much two hundred thousand is.
But there's evidence that those are just compound ideas in our brains. We've been trained to stretch and stretch toward ever greater numbers, but we may have a neurological limit of about 3. There's evidence of that even in advanced societies. Take a look at Chinese numerals:
How about Roman numerals:
Now Hindi:
Now Arabic:
Four advanced civilizations, developed separately all over the globe, and over and over the human race easily spots one thing, two things, three things ... and that's it. After that, higher numbers become an abstract concept.
I've noticed this in the past in Greta. Several weeks ago she caught the concept of two of something. One fine day she saw a truck go by and said, "Truck!," as she never fails to do. Then another truck went by and she said, "Two trucks!" I was thrilled that she could get the concept and articulate it. She kept saying things like that, and now often goes plural whenever she can. "Two cheerios!" "Two beans!" "Two pillows!"
Interestingly, I noticed that she'd say "Two trucks!" even when there was only one truck. But then I realized that she was possibly at a one/many stage, in which her word for "many" was "two." She was seeing (not just trucks but) all the cars on the road, and calling them all trucks. "Two trucks" then may mean "Look at all those cars!"
Just a couple of days ago, we were playing in the back yard, when she picked up a few straws that had spilled out of the car. She came up and exclaimed, "Three straws!"
Rising toward earth's noonward height!
In advanced societies, of course, we have more. We can conceive of seven of something, or 16, or 200. We have a sense of how much seventy thousand dollars is, and how much two hundred thousand is.
But there's evidence that those are just compound ideas in our brains. We've been trained to stretch and stretch toward ever greater numbers, but we may have a neurological limit of about 3. There's evidence of that even in advanced societies. Take a look at Chinese numerals:
How about Roman numerals:
Now Hindi:
Now Arabic:
Four advanced civilizations, developed separately all over the globe, and over and over the human race easily spots one thing, two things, three things ... and that's it. After that, higher numbers become an abstract concept.
I've noticed this in the past in Greta. Several weeks ago she caught the concept of two of something. One fine day she saw a truck go by and said, "Truck!," as she never fails to do. Then another truck went by and she said, "Two trucks!" I was thrilled that she could get the concept and articulate it. She kept saying things like that, and now often goes plural whenever she can. "Two cheerios!" "Two beans!" "Two pillows!"
Interestingly, I noticed that she'd say "Two trucks!" even when there was only one truck. But then I realized that she was possibly at a one/many stage, in which her word for "many" was "two." She was seeing (not just trucks but) all the cars on the road, and calling them all trucks. "Two trucks" then may mean "Look at all those cars!"
Just a couple of days ago, we were playing in the back yard, when she picked up a few straws that had spilled out of the car. She came up and exclaimed, "Three straws!"
Rising toward earth's noonward height!
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