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We like to think of numbers as primitive abstractions whose most interesting quality is keeping account of things: 3 cows, 2 dollars, 1 tree etc.
But if we come exceedingly reductive in our view of the modern technological world we live in we will soon enough encounter those pesky primitive numbers that chicken farmers have used for thousands of years to count eggs.
So just sticking to computers, a good example of modern technology. You look at the screen and all of the things upon it which can be displayed: videos, pictures, texts etc. It can seem like magic sometimes, the amount of content we have and the degree of control we have over it. If the ancients encountered such machines they would have assumed the Gods had dropped them a little gift.
But again, if we look a little deeper not much has changed. The chicken farmer counts 1 egg, 2 eggs, 3 eggs etc, whereas the computer says a zero goes here and a 1 goes there. It's all just numbers and accounting at the end of the day. Don't let the fancy stuff fool you. You're still in control at the end of the day. All we're doing is counting things just like the ancients did. Numbers, the spice of life.
But if we come exceedingly reductive in our view of the modern technological world we live in we will soon enough encounter those pesky primitive numbers that chicken farmers have used for thousands of years to count eggs.
So just sticking to computers, a good example of modern technology. You look at the screen and all of the things upon it which can be displayed: videos, pictures, texts etc. It can seem like magic sometimes, the amount of content we have and the degree of control we have over it. If the ancients encountered such machines they would have assumed the Gods had dropped them a little gift.
But again, if we look a little deeper not much has changed. The chicken farmer counts 1 egg, 2 eggs, 3 eggs etc, whereas the computer says a zero goes here and a 1 goes there. It's all just numbers and accounting at the end of the day. Don't let the fancy stuff fool you. You're still in control at the end of the day. All we're doing is counting things just like the ancients did. Numbers, the spice of life.
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