4 ms·
Even caring about this kind of stuff feels like people have an inferiority complex
by baxtr 9y ago
Even caring about this kind of stuff feels like people have an inferiority complex
- yumraj 9y agoSo, if you invent something and tell me about it, you'd be totally fine if I go ahead and claim it as my invention, file a patent, copyright it etc., since you don't suffer from inferiority complex, right?
- baxtr 9y agoI don’t think that is a sound comparison and it’s missing my point Look, I don’t want to insult anyone. That’s just a conclusion I’ve made over the years. My background is also such that my native people always complain about past stuff like that instead of changing the here and now
- Sangermaine 9y agoThat analogy is a terrible one for the historical situation we're talking about. The numeral system is a concept that was vastly changed as it passed through different cultures over time. The current system in use is, demonstrably, not the one used in the ancient Indian subcontinent. It is indeed a Hindu-Arabic system because the form we use today arose among Arab scholars who had adapted the older Indian symbols. It's nationalistic nonsense to fight against both the historical reality and the natural flow of ideas over millennia, and does indeed smack of an inferiority complex. It's not a slight or a slur to acknowledge the complexity of the historical reality, and the achievements of ancient Indian peoples are no less impressive, anymore than the Greek adaptation and expansion of older Babylonian geometric concepts diminishes those.
- thankthunk 9y agoWelcome to humanity. You should read up on the centuries old newton-leibniz calculus debate. But regardless, the modern number system is one of the seminal achievements in human history, along with the wheel, alphabet, paper, etc. It shouldn't be too surprising that people want correct attribution/credit.
- amriksohata 9y agoThere is no inferiorty complex, when you get a factual book out of the library you want to read it hoping you know the truth, not what something wanted you to think.
- saagarjha 9y agoPresumably, if you get a book out of the library about numeric systems, it would have a detailed section on the origin of our current system. And keep in mind that all of history is what someone "wanted you to think" to some degree.