From: Anders Sandberg (asa@nada.kth.se)
Date: Fri May 23 2003 - 10:06:31 MDT
On Fri, May 23, 2003 at 11:14:40AM -0400, gts wrote:
> This is to say that we were already clearly on the path to the development
> of math and written language long before we started sowing seeds, stealing
> the milk of animals, and building businesses and cities. It would seem that
> large complex competitive societies were as much a result of our symbolic
> capacities as they were a cause of them.
Yes, the Great Leap Forward was amazing. But is there any evidence for
math and written language before agriculture, or even any evidence for a
move in that direction? The counting tokens that originated in the
neolithic fertile crescent 9000 years ago seems to be precursors to both
counting and writing but are coincident with agriculture. To my
knowledge there are no similar finds before, or writing tendencies in
cave painting styles.
-- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Anders Sandberg Towards Ascension! asa@nada.kth.se http://www.nada.kth.se/~asa/ GCS/M/S/O d++ -p+ c++++ !l u+ e++ m++ s+/+ n--- h+/* f+ g+ w++ t+ r+ !y
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