5 ms·
Apparently they asked Everett to teach them basic numeracy skills (counting to 10, 1+1=2, etc) and were unable to grasp it even with months of study.
by rozab 6y ago
Apparently they asked Everett to teach them basic numeracy skills (counting to 10, 1+1=2, etc) and were unable to grasp it even with months of study.
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- bryanrasmussen 6y agoCould he teach it to the children? If not it would start to seem like an argument that members of the tribe lacked mental faculties that the rest of humanity display (unless severely disabled) and for me would really call his claims into doubt without a lot of research from multiple sources.
- rozab 6y agoI mean, this is the whole point of linguistic determinism, the concept under discussion here. These folks believe that our ability to think in recursive terms (as is necessary when dealing with numbers) is acquired through language. I don't really believe it, and most linguists haven't since the early 20th century, but that's the claim he made.