Tammet is a best selling author and a mathematical savant who writes, in this book, about the Piraha tribe who live on the banks of the Maici River in the Amazon Rain Forest.
These people have no knowledge, whatsoever, of numbers. There are no words in their language for measuring either time or quantity.
Parents can tell you all the names of their children but if you ask them how many children they have, they have no idea what you're talking about.
They have no creation myths and no concept of past or present. They live, totally, in the present moment and beyond that moment they think of past or future as "the time when nothing happens".
I'm thinking of moving to their village and moving into a grass hut. I think these folks are on to something!
No comments:
Post a Comment