8 ms·

I'm not so sure that numbers are universal. If your species were hive-like or highly solipsistic, you wouldn't necessarily have the need for numbers (although i

I'm not so sure that numbers are universal. If your species were hive-like or highly solipsistic, you wouldn't necessarily have the need for numbers (although it is still plausible that they could use "us" vs "them", or "myself" vs "the outside world", but that's not exactly the same as "plural"). Even humans have languages that don't have numbers above of "one, two, three, many"; so long for generalized numbers being a universal concept.

sidegrid 10y ago
How would you build a spaceship (or international ship... Whatever) without a concept of numbers?
- Razengan 10y ago
  How do we make music without having a name for each frequency? Sure we use letters and numbers to represent them, and words for many musical concepts, but people have been making music without knowing these and since long before they were codified.. The number line is a continuous stream, right? Carrying on from my earlier comment [0], an alien species could use a smooth gradient of colors to represent numbers; their senses may be such that they interpret a distinct shade, or a "step" or "tick", after a small difference in wavelength/frequency, and they use those steps to represent integers, and a transition between two shades to represent fractions.. So if I want to tell you I want 1 of something, I just show you a deep violet. If I want 2, I "say" a ever-so-slightly less saturated violet. Green may mean a million, and reds would be used for astronomical scales. :) But they may not "think" in terms of "numbers" as we do; they would just see and imagine colors and associate them with a sense of quantity, or comparison.. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13969500 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13969500
  - Udik 10y ago
    Yes. "How much acceleration can this part withstand?" "I'd say violet, but with a shade of pink". "Perfect!". I'm sure their spaceships will work just fine.
    - IIIIIIIIIIII 10y ago
      So it doesn't work because you can't imagine a way different from what you know. Okay.
    - Razengan 10y ago
      http://edition.cnn.com/TECH/space/9909/30/mars.metric.02/ http://edition.cnn.com/TECH/space/9909/30/mars.metric.02/
    - alpha_squared 10y ago
      That seems like an awfully ethnocentric perspective. It sounds like, "we understand things this way, therefore things can only be understood this way." I'm not saying there is or isn't more than one way to understand complex topics, but that it's possible there may not be only one way.
      - catshirt 10y ago
        seemed like joke not a criticism. I laughed.
        alpha_squared 10y ago
        The author is arguing that stance, quite strongly, in another comment.[0] [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13971010 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13971010
        catshirt 10y ago
        hm. well, i can't argue. i'm not the expert on the aliens we haven't found yet.
    - panglott 10y ago
      I think the musical metaphor makes more sense to us, with the obvious analogy to the length of a vibrating string. "This part is D-flat long, when it needs to be C-sharp!"
    - 10y ago
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
- TuringTest 10y ago
  Who says they build spaceships? Maybe they grow spaceships, and evolve various versions until one of them has the desired properties for space travel. You don't even need to be intelligent to achieve that.
- sidegrid 10y ago
  Interdimensional.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

sidegrid 10y ago

How would you build a spaceship (or international ship... Whatever) without a concept of numbers?

Razengan 10y ago
How do we make music without having a name for each frequency? Sure we use letters and numbers to represent them, and words for many musical concepts, but people have been making music without knowing these and since long before they were codified.. The number line is a continuous stream, right? Carrying on from my earlier comment [0], an alien species could use a smooth gradient of colors to represent numbers; their senses may be such that they interpret a distinct shade, or a "step" or "tick", after a small difference in wavelength/frequency, and they use those steps to represent integers, and a transition between two shades to represent fractions.. So if I want to tell you I want 1 of something, I just show you a deep violet. If I want 2, I "say" a ever-so-slightly less saturated violet. Green may mean a million, and reds would be used for astronomical scales. :) But they may not "think" in terms of "numbers" as we do; they would just see and imagine colors and associate them with a sense of quantity, or comparison.. [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13969500 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13969500
- Udik 10y ago
  Yes. "How much acceleration can this part withstand?" "I'd say violet, but with a shade of pink". "Perfect!". I'm sure their spaceships will work just fine.
  - IIIIIIIIIIII 10y ago
    So it doesn't work because you can't imagine a way different from what you know. Okay.
  - Razengan 10y ago
    http://edition.cnn.com/TECH/space/9909/30/mars.metric.02/ http://edition.cnn.com/TECH/space/9909/30/mars.metric.02/
  - alpha_squared 10y ago
    That seems like an awfully ethnocentric perspective. It sounds like, "we understand things this way, therefore things can only be understood this way." I'm not saying there is or isn't more than one way to understand complex topics, but that it's possible there may not be only one way.
    - catshirt 10y ago
      seemed like joke not a criticism. I laughed.
      - alpha_squared 10y ago
        The author is arguing that stance, quite strongly, in another comment.[0] [0] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13971010 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13971010
        catshirt 10y ago
        hm. well, i can't argue. i'm not the expert on the aliens we haven't found yet.
  - panglott 10y ago
    I think the musical metaphor makes more sense to us, with the obvious analogy to the length of a vibrating string. "This part is D-flat long, when it needs to be C-sharp!"
  - 10y ago
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
TuringTest 10y ago
Who says they build spaceships? Maybe they grow spaceships, and evolve various versions until one of them has the desired properties for space travel. You don't even need to be intelligent to achieve that.
sidegrid 10y ago
Interdimensional.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]