Son of Daniel Everett
The author's father is ``[Pidahan](https://nomado.moo.jp/medias/2022/05/21/post-3635/?hilite=% I'm Daniel Everett, who wrote "Pidahan" (Michiko Yashiro is also the translator of "Pidahan").
``Pidahan'' was interesting. The author (Caleb) is mentioned many times there. The author was probably born in America. In other words, it is a country with numbers. During his childhood, he spent time with his father among the Pirahã and other tribes. It would not have been easy for him. His mother nearly died from malaria, his parents eventually divorced, and his father abandoned Christianity (his mother was the daughter of a missionary). How did you feel growing up in such a family?
The fact that he studied anthropology and linguistics does not mean that he simply despised or opposed his father. I think his experience is fully demonstrated in this book. However, it seems to me that my feelings towards my father are not just about respect. His feelings towards his mother are also complicated.
Recently, when I read a book, I think about the author's feelings. Is that a good thing or a bad thing because you can't read what is written exactly as it is written? However, it was written by a human (not an AI), and not everything is expressed in what is written. Of course, when reading, the thoughts (feelings) of the reader are included, so there may be no other "objective" way to read. Furthermore, even "numbers" that are said to be "objective" are not absolute truth, and how they are perceived differs from person to person. I don't know if the statement "✗✗ people including XX children" due to wars or accidents (fires, incidents) is "truth" or not, and even if it is, the way it is perceived differs from person to person. Reports of "✗✗ people including 〇〇 women" are no longer reported. Why is it not being done anymore? Why was it being done?
Cultures with numbers and cultures without them
We live surrounded by numbers, so it is difficult to imagine a culture without numbers. think. Since numbers are ``natural,'' we tend to think that numbers exist objectively (universally). Even if there is one thing (for example, an apple), it is different whether there are two things (two apples). There is a difference between "there are two apples" and "there are two apples". This book deals with the former "two" (I'm not good at English (a foreign language), so I asked Google to translate both of them, and the correct translation was "There are two apples". What will happen?)
Generally, when one culture adopts another culture's number system, the adopting culture also has at least some idea of what numbers are. However, for Pirahã, numbers were completely unknown territory. In addition to the Portuguese number words that his parents had tried to teach him, the existence of words that could accurately express numbers, and more importantly, even the recognition of the amount that number words represented, was a world unknown to him. .
When I was young, I couldn't help but wonder at how Pirahã adults struggled to remember numbers. It was strange because even as a child, I knew that these children did not have any learning disabilities. (P.121-122)
Pidahan came out right away. I can imagine how the young author would have looked at it. The author had a clear concept of numbers, thinking, "Huh? Why don't you understand?" I also knew that the Pirahã adults had far more knowledge and skills than the author (and his father) about the forest and hunting, so I didn't think, ``Pirahan are idiots.'' about it. Having a learning disability simply means living in a society where it is considered a disability.
In other words, it is not always necessary to be able to accurately count the number of loved ones in order to recognize whether or not a loved one is present. (...) Pirahã children are remembered not as numbers, but as individuals. (P.139)
It means that we should consider each person as "a single person" rather than "a single person." Human dignity and respect for the individual can be seen in this, but I would like to see it as an issue of proper name (individuality). And when you think of it as singularity, the number no longer matters. Even if there is a doppelganger. I think that when we look at it as a number, we assume that there are ``two people,'' ``not me, but you.'' The fear of a doppelganger is that ``there is a me other than me'' and that I will appear as ``another (something I don't understand).''
In other words, behind the concept of numbers lies a sense of subjectivity.
Numbers in the nerves (brain)
The numbers that appear a lot in this book are numbers for "living things." For example, how do babies see numbers? Experimental results show that even babies who have not yet learned words can recognize numbers (quantities). However,
The results of these experiments tell us little about how different cultures influence infants' numerical thinking in the first few months of life. It is. (P.163)
So, is number recognition not a cultural thing but a biological thing?
However, even with such awareness, it cannot be said that ants can understand quantity as a concept. (P.187)
The author says that "recognition" and "concept" are different.
Words essentially act as targets, indicating where later concepts should go. (P.174)
The path to learning numbers is not the process of naming concepts, but ``giving concepts to existing names''. (P.175)
The process of creating new concepts using existing concepts and trying to understand words whose meanings have not yet fully formed is called "conceptual shoes." It is sometimes called a string knot. (P.176)
This is similar to "definition of experience."
When you later experience the corresponding emotion, you realize that ``Ah, this is what love is (as I knew it from that story)''. "definition". Without prior knowledge of concepts, it is not possible to give a name to an experience. (Chizuko Ueno, Ryomi Suzuki “Reciprocal letter'' Gentosha, P.76)
Concept before experience, concept before concept This means that there is a language (names, words) in the world. Is it right.
What comes to mind here is "nominalism." There seem to be various ideas about nominalism, so here is an example from Wiki ``I thought that what is real is not the form (forma) of genus concepts, but concrete individual things (races), that is, individual concrete humans, dogs, and roses.'' From this standpoint, there are ``Taro'' and ``Jiro,'' but ``humans'' (species) and ``two humans'' are just names. In my example, you can say ``There are two apples,'' but you cannot say ``There are two apples.'' According to Wiki, the antonym of nominalism is realism. My position is that ``humans'' and ``two apples'' do exist. Conversely, from the author's perspective, there is the word (name) ``2 (ni, ni, two)'' and the concept of ``2'' is created. Then, there is the concept of ``2'' and we have the experience of ``2''.
The difficult thing is that even if you experience "2", there is no way to express it unless you use "words" (like holding up two fingers). The reason why ants do not have the concept of "2" is because there is no word "2". And without words, there is no experience of "2". Pirahã have not experienced "2".
No, no, the position of realism since Plato is that even if we lose concepts or words (vocabulary), ``2'' still exists and we still have experiences. However, while Plato believed that there was an ``idea'' separate from individual objects, Aristotle believed that the ``matter'' and ``form (idea)'' of an individual object were inseparable.
Anthropomorphism (self-personification)
What I would like to confirm here is that the question ``Do you know numbers?'' to ants and monkeys is, No matter how you answer, you are personifying them. Similarly, when we ask infants and young children, "Do you understand numbers?", we are projecting our own senses (emotions) and trying to understand them.
And that feeling is ``my own feeling.'' It is said that we perceive the external world through our five senses (sight, hearing, touch, taste, and smell). But even if we look at the same apple, we don't know whether other people see it the same way. Not only does "red" have various meanings depending on the culture (passion, anti-establishment, etc.), but the range of things that it encompasses also varies. If you were asked to buy a red apple, you would probably go to the supermarket and go to the fruit section, where there are many different kinds of apples. Green or yellow apples are no good. However, even though they are called red apples, there are apples of various colors, from yellowish to dark red. From where to where is "red"? In order to objectively display red, we use a spectrophotometer to express the color in terms of frequency (wavelength). We decide that "from ~Hertz to ~Hertz is red." In other words, we believe that "red" can be determined objectively by "digitizing" it. This means that there are colors with longer wavelengths than visible light (infrared) and colors with shorter wavelengths than violet (ultraviolet), but these are invisible to the naked eye. The sound is the same. There are sounds lower than the audible range (infrasound) and sounds higher than the audible range (ultrasound). Some animals recognize these colors and sounds. Bats and dolphins may be saying, ``Why don't humans use ultrasound?'' and plants may be asking, ``Why don't we photosynthesize using ultraviolet light?''
This "recognition" is the secret, and interpreting it as "seeing" or "hearing" is anthropomorphism. However, it is different to say "I feel it". If you are exposed to the sun outside, you will get a sunburn. This is not normally called "sensing ultraviolet rays." As a result, we become conscious of ``ultraviolet rays'' when our skin becomes red or stings.
Also, if you eat with your nose plugged (eyes closed), you may not be able to taste or feel the flavor. The five senses are not independent.
So far, we have been talking about the five senses, but are the five senses the only thing that animals and plants feel? I do not know. Even if there was something other than the five senses (I'm not talking about the sixth sense), I wouldn't be able to recognize it.
Agriculture and numbers
Although there are limits to classifying human groups using terms, the complexity of production modes and number systems There is a clear correlation. (P.238)
The author emphasizes the influence of the number system on agriculture.
Rather, what I would like to suggest is that a solid number system has been an important element in establishing agricultural practices, both in the past and in the present. is. Ultimately, however, I would like to argue that number systems and modes of production likely developed hand in hand. This is because certain modes of production (such as sedentary farming) would have themselves been a pressure factor to further improve the number mode. (P.238)
I have no intention of denying that agriculture, settlement, and urbanization (the formation of cities) are indicators of culture. It is unclear which was the cause and which was the result of the "invention of numbers" and the "beginning of agriculture." The author's way of saying "hand in hand" is subtle. There are passages that explain this relationship in some detail.
The larger upper limit allowed Sumerians and other agricultural peoples to accurately count how many rows of barley there were in a field. It has become possible to accurately measure the amount of grain that must be stored for the winter. Without numbers, this task would not only be difficult, but also impossible. The reason I can now say this with confidence is thanks to the research and experiments that have been featured in this book in recent years. Thus, numbers made farming possible and led to the creation of large sedentary societies. Over time, large societies developed intellectual communities that shared a common language, and new counting tools quickly became widespread. (P.240-241)
Hmm, it's a little strange. I think you can figure out how much you need to save even if you don't have numbers. Rather, I think it would be better to think of ``counting'' as being for tax purposes. Like Cain, crops were sacrificed to God. When God became a king (when the king became God), didn't the offerings become taxes?
As the author points out, agriculture (what appears to be) is widespread even in so-called hunter-gatherer societies (the Arctic region, where farming is impossible, is probably copper). Furthermore, research shows that even in hunter-gatherer societies, hunting accounts for a small proportion of food. The reason why hunting seems like ``work that is necessary for survival'' is simply that modern Westerners are projecting their own ``work''; in fact, it is closer to what modern Westerners would call ``play''. Is it not? I think that collecting and farming are both games. The culture of hunting, gathering, and farming is "play."
Culture, at its most fundamental stage, was something to be played with. It does not emanate from play, as a living entity is born from a mother's body. It develops in play and as play. (Huizinga, “Homo Ludens Chuko Bunko, P.355)
< /blockquote>It is undeniable that the author is looking at other cultures, history, flora and fauna from modern Western civilization (modern and modern science). That can't be helped. Because you can't see it with other people's eyes. Moreover, he is a scholar, and his parents are also famous scholars.
He lives in a world created by numbers. Although not much has been written about the relationship between numbers and letters, there is a close relationship between numbers and letters (visualization). A major factor in the objectivity of numbers is that they are physical sensations, and they are also visualized. There is a closer relationship between letters and power than there is between agriculture. The magical nature of letters and politics (festivals) are connected.
Feeling numbers
This is because we grasp quantities through our bodies. (P.80)
Metaphors and fictional movements based on physical sensations are both essential elements for constructing mathematical reasoning. (P.219)
In other words, physical sensations are "experiences."
In other words, we are born to perceive 1, 2, and 3 accurately, and other quantities roughly. (P.109)
If so, are we experiencing "big numbers"? How many numbers have you ever counted? When you can't sleep, people say, ``Counting sheep makes me sleepy.'' I've tried it a few times, but it doesn't make me sleepy, so I can count up to quite a large number (I quickly reach 2-300). In the end, I got tired of it and gave up, but I don't think I ever reached 10,000. Maybe I'm not good with numbers, but I can't really tell the difference between 100 million and 1 trillion. I have dealt with such numbers in my work, but I have never felt it. Do people who work at banks count bills and feel it more than I do? Maybe so. On the other hand, perhaps we shouldn't think of it as "money." Bills may be just pieces of paper, and numbers may need to be seen as concepts. Thinking, ``Now I can eat delicious food and buy what I like'' may lead to embezzlement.
What does the author think about the current situation where knowledge (concepts) are separated from things or experiences? I wanted to know more about the differences between words and things, number words and numbers.
Textbook-like
First of all, there is a general text, and there is also a summary of the whole text. Each chapter also has a ``conclusion'', which is very easy to read.
The author writes specialized content in an easy-to-understand manner based on a vast amount of knowledge and experience in fields such as folklore, archaeology, linguistics, and psychology. Most of the references have not been translated into Japanese, so I am unable to read and confirm them. I think it is very meaningful as a book that deals with "numbers" rather than mathematically.