The person watching is asked to signal when all the nuts have been removed. In an experiment, a researcher will place nuts into a can one at a time, then remove them one by one. Without numbers, healthy human adults struggle to precisely differentiate and recall quantities as low as four. Researchers have also studied some adults in Nicaragua who were never taught number words. In a 2017 book, I explored the ways in which humans invented numbers, and how numbers subsequently played a critical role in other milestones, from the advent of agriculture to the genesis of writing.Ĭultures without numbers, or with only one or two precise numbers, include the Munduruku and Pirahã in Amazonia. Speakers of anumeric, or numberless, languages offer a window into how the invention of numbers reshaped the human experience. What’s more, the 7,000 or so languages that exist today vary dramatically in how they utilize numbers. For the bulk of our species’ approximately 200,000-year lifespan, we had no means of precisely representing quantities. The exact (and exacting) numbers we think with impact everything from our schedules to our self-esteem.īut, in a historical sense, numerically fixated people like us are the unusual ones. As you read this, you are likely aware of what time it is, how old you are, your checking account balance, your weight and so on. In contrast, our own lives are governed by numbers. Instead of using words for precise quantities, these people rely exclusively on terms analogous to “a few” or “some.” There are numberless hunter-gatherers embedded deep in Amazonia, living along branches of the world’s largest river tree.