Understanding McLuhan/Understanding McLuhan (1996)(Voyager)[Mac-PC].iso/pc/mcluhan.dxr/06683_Field_TCUM T248.txt

Text File | 1996-04-10 | 1KB | 16 lines

     The most primitive tribes of Australia and Africa, like the
Eskimos of today, have not yet reached finger-counting, nor do
they have numbers in series. Instead they have a binary system
of independent numbers for one  and two , with composite
numbers up to six . After six , they perceive only “heap.” Lacking
the sense of series, they will scarcely notice when two pins have
been removed from a row of seven. They become aware at
once, however, if one  pin is missing. Tobias Dantzig, who
investigated these matters, points out (in Number: The
Language of Science ) that the parity or kinaesthetic sense of
these people is stronger than their number sense. It is certainly
an indication of a developing visual stress in a culture when
number appears. A closely integrated tribal culture will not
easily yield to the separatist visual and individualistic pressures
that lead to the division of labor, and then to such accelerated
forms as writing and money. On the other hand, Western man,