1. numbers (a need to move forward)

1-3. We learn numbers so early that we might not be able to recall it, so we take the ability to work with numbers for granted. We also live in a world which has been quantified and digitized so we might find it difficult to imagine a world without number. However, there are still people who haven’t developed the concept of number and they hardly use it. This video shows how a member of Walpiri tribe expressing 4.

This behavior has been observed in many primitive tribes whose members were able to count up to a certain level, let’s say 2, 3 or 6; and beyond that they use the word “many”. Dobrizhoffer observed that counting bores primitive people.

“Primitive man not only does not know arithmetic, he avoids it. His memory proves to be a major handicap; counting bores him, so he is unwilling to use it. “When members of a primitive tribe return from an expedition hunting from wild horses, nobody asks how many wild horses they have brought back. The question asked is, “How large an area would the herd you brought back occupy?”

How can inability to understand, work with, or express the large numbers, be justified? Since most of the 6 year old kids are able to count up to 100, can we conclude that there is a faculty in our brain, which enables us to understand concept of numbers, therefore primitive people lack it?

In order to answer the question, we should look through the process of creating the concept of number step by step. At the first step, we perceive and conceive the difference between two different amounts. To some extent animals can compare two quantities and select one of them. This video shows the ability of pigeon to distinguish the quantities and select the smaller value (in order to get rewarded).

Is pigeon able to compare every two values? We have to consider that comparing 1 object with 2 objects is easier than comparing 8 objects with 9 objects. Through a research Gatton found that if he took 1 of the 4 eggs out of a nest, “the bird didn’t seem to mind it, but if he took two eggs, then the bird destroyed its nest”. You might find it difficult to compare 10 flowers to 11 flowers, eventually you would need to count each group in order to compare their quantities.

Primitive people might not be able to recognize the difference between two close quantities, so they don’t use different words for them, or the difference between the quantities doesn't affect their living therefore, they haven’t felt the need to come up with proper names for each number.

Evolution of numbers was propelled by individual and social needs. Even in ancient Greece when geometry was flourishing, mathematicians almost disregarded arithmetic since they thought recording and working with numbers is a slavish job (their slaves were in charge of reckoning). Development of numbers can be directly related to the civilizations in which people needed to deal with the surplus of their grains, to share something evenly with a group of people, to deal with the inheritance, to measure the quantities such as time, length and mass, and many other needs. If you ate whatever you hunted or obtained, you wouldn't have any belonging to be counted; besides, if you dwelt in a barren land you wouldn't be able to see the periodic growth and decay of the plants, therefore you wouldn't come up with the idea of agriculture.

Jean Piaget, whose name was mentioned earlier, conducted several experiments on many kids to monitor the cognitive stages of development. These two videos demonstrate his experiments.

We can see that the concept of quantity and specifically the number (in the coin experiment) needs to be refined in the kids' brains, since they can't still separate it from the size or the change of shape. It shows that creating the concept of numbers and quantity needs a huge development in our brains (what we take for granted) that if it didn't take place we couldn't understand the numbers, therefore there couldn't be almost any developments in our societies. 

In conclusion, we can say that the ability to understand the numbers is not built in; even though our brains have been evolved through centuries so we can understand them faster than our primitive ancestors, it has been acquired when we were small kids and it can be reinforced and developed when we need the numbers for counting or calculations.