I've said elsewhere that I reject the idea that counting arises from the fingers.
People often say that base 10 is the obvious choice because we have 10 fingers. Then people come up with other ways of counting fingers to explain away other number systems like the ancient mesopotamian system ("well its because they were counting on individual phalanges!")
As of yesterday I have a new example to undermine the counting-from-fingers idea.
Because if you want a really practical way of counting on your fingers and which will correlate to written numbers, you want base 6.
0..5 on the units hand.
6¹..6⁵ on the sixes hand.
Counts all the way up to 35 and the numbers (digits) you'd write down match 1:1 with your fingers (digits).
If counting arose from the fingers, where's base 6?
EDIT:
I made a silly notation error in the above. Since there are already reblogs I'm not going to change the error, but I feel it needs to be acknowledged.
The conscious rational mind is a secondary mental function. The mind chooses what feels right to it emotionally. Then, the rational mind takes over to --- well, rationalize the decision chosen by passion. This is why a good education should inculcate students with a passion for the Truth, along with critical thinking skills.
Life is complicated. So is finding the Truth in life. The Truth is often composed of many facts that are true. But taken individually, a fact may not on its own be indicative of the total Truth itself.
Full disclosure: Much as this posting may appear to be inviting dialog, it is not. Neither is it meant to be a declaration of my politics. My politics are too deeply rooted in my passion for Truth to be limited by ideology. That's not to say that all my posts are the product of reason in the search of Truth. Despite my advanced age (I'm an octogenarian) and attendant health problems, I'm still in possession of a sense of humor. Both my health problems and my sense of humor have been greatly aided by being in my state's medical cannabis program. So, I'm very stoner friendly. I do occasionally free associate while writing, like I was noodling riffs on a horn. Like any honest writer may admit, I write to please myself.
Data across countries and ages reveal a growing struggle to concentrate, and declining verbal and numerical reasoning
By: John Burn-Murdoch
Published: Mar 14, 2025
What is intelligence? This may sound like a straightforward question with a straightforward answer — the Oxford English Dictionary defines it as “a capacity to understand” — but that definition itself raises an increasingly relevant question in the modern world. What happens if the extent to which we can practically apply that capacity is diminishing? Evidence is mounting that something exactly like this has been happening to the human intellect over the past decade or so.
Nobody would argue that the fundamental biology of the human brain has changed in that far-too-short time span. However, across a range of tests, the average person’s ability to reason and solve novel problems appears to have peaked in the early 2010s and has been declining ever since.
When the latest round of analysis from PISA, the OECD’s international benchmarking test for performance by 15-year-olds in reading, mathematics and science tests, was released, the focus understandably fell on the role of the Covid pandemic in disrupting education. But this masked a longer-term and broader deterioration.
Longer-term in the sense that scores for all three subjects tended to peak around 2012. In many cases, they fell further between 2012 and 2018 than they did during the pandemic-affected years. And broader in that this decline in measures of reasoning and problem-solving is not confined to teenagers. Adults show a similar pattern, with declines visible across all age groups in last year’s update of the OECD’s flagship assessment of trends in adult skills.
Given its importance, there has been remarkably little consistent long-running research on human attention or mental capacity. But there is a rare exception: every year since the 1980s, the Monitoring the Future study has been asking 18-year-olds whether they have difficulty thinking, concentrating or learning new things. The share of final year high school students who report difficulties was stable throughout the 1990s and 2000s, but began a rapid upward climb in the mid-2010s.
This inflection point is noteworthy not only for being similar to performance on tests of intelligence and reasoning but because it coincides with another broader development: our changing relationship with information, available constantly online.
Part of what we’re looking at here is likely to be a result of the ongoing transition away from text and towards visual media — the shift towards a “post-literate” society spent obsessively on our screens.
The decline of reading is certainly real — in 2022 the share of Americans who reported reading a book in the past year fell below half.
Particularly striking however is that we see this alongside decreasing performance in the application of numeracy and other forms of problem-solving in most countries.
In one particularly eye-opening statistic, the share of adults who are unable to “use mathematical reasoning when reviewing and evaluating the validity of statements” has climbed to 25 per cent on average in high-income countries, and 35 per cent in the US.
So we appear to be looking less at the decline of reading per se, and more at a broader erosion in human capacity for mental focus and application.
Most discussion about the societal impacts of digital media focuses on the rise of smartphones and social media. But the change in human capacity for focused thought coincides with something more fundamental: a shift in our relationship with information.
We have moved from finite web pages to infinite, constantly refreshed feeds and a constant barrage of notifications. We no longer spend as much time actively browsing the web and interacting with people we know but instead are presented with a torrent of content. This represents a move from self-directed behaviour to passive consumption and constant context-switching.
Research finds that active, intentional use of digital technologies is often benign or even beneficial. Whereas the behaviours that have taken off in recent years have been shown to affect everything from our ability to process verbal information, to attention, working memory and self-regulation.
The good news is that underlying human intellectual capacity is surely undimmed. But outcomes are a function of both potential and execution. For too many of us the digital environment is hampering the latter.
Just realised I managed to get the numbering wrong on the alphabet in the poem posts, despite checking it several times. Apologies for that. My issues with numeracy have been a source of shame for me since I was a child (and probably more so for my parents) and it seems I won’t be escaping them any time soon.
Corrected it now anyway. Apologies again for any confusion or annoyance.
Understanding fractions can be challenging. But thinking of them firstly as a division between 2 numbers, than as numbers in their own right are important aspects that will help you in the future. In this video I am looking at the adding and subtracting fractions.
Emergency Medical Services For Children Day - The day raises awareness of the need for improved and expanded specialized care for children. Emergency care often comes from parents, caregivers, trained EMS providers, and hospital personnel. Together, they strive to meet the unique needs of critically ill or injured pediatric patients.
May Ray Day - There are many ways to enjoy the outdoors and the warmer days as summer approaches. Whether your place under the sun is at the park, a rooftop or your own back yard find a way to enjoy the nicer weather. If mother nature isn’t cooperating, there are several days in May remaining.
National Devil’s Food Cake Day - Devil’s Food Cake is a heavenly chocolate cake. It differs from a regular chocolate cake by its darker color and tends to be more moist and airy. Devil’s Food cake recipes use hot or boiling water as the primary liquid. Cocoa is typically utilized in the batter, as opposed to chocolate, and coffee can be added for a distinctive flavor. A delicious chocolate frosting usually accompanies the cake.
National Juice Slush Day - Royal courts from ages past used to bring down freshly fallen snow from mountain tops and spread crushed berries and mashed fruit on top. Little has changed. Billions of servings later the refreshing taste of icy fruit slush still thrills all ages.
Numeracy Day - It is about recognizing the importance of numbers and numeracy and encouraging people to sharpen their skills and build their confidence with numbers. Being smarter with numbers isn’t a special talent, it’s something we can all learn!
Critical Core was successfully funded on Kickstarter! Click here to see the Kickstarter project and pre-order a copy! Harness the therapeutic power of intentional gaming with Critical Core. After seven years of developing a therapeutic intervention modality using role-playing games like Dungeons and Dragons, we are excited to announce a new product from Game to […]
Critical Core is a modified form of the Dungeons and Dragons 5e game system. They explain their rationale better so:
“Critical Core is a social-skills intervention in the form of a tabletop role playing game. Developed under the guidance of therapists and child psychiatrists and using the practices developed by Game to Grow’s founders Adam Davis and Adam Johns, the game invites children to enter a shared world of fantasy, consequence, and social problem solving.Critical Core combines modern developmental therapies with the mechanics of tabletop role-playing games to help kids connect with their parents, their friends, and the world around them. Players learn communication and collaboration skills, develop frustration tolerance and emotional resilience, and build empathy for others, all while rolling dice and having fun.”
