| | Jordan, here's a break-down of this 'elehantitis of the brain' article:
Leo Lewis:
The elephant's memory is legendary ... Sure Leo, but what's your point? Memory is one of the 4 perceptual powers of awareness -- while math is conceptual.
... but in a large, grey surprise to science the mighty Asian elephant turns out to have a distinct flair for maths as well. That begs the question that perceivable differences in quantity are "math" -- i.e., that math is something that can be performed without the concept of numbers.
... plenty of animals have been shown to possess basic counting abilities but most animals fail when the numbers get much bigger than three or four or the margin of difference between the available choices become too narrow.
“I couldn’t believe it at first,” said Irie, “They could instantly compare numbers like six and five."
Animals haven't been shown to have counting abilities (which are things which require a concept of numbers) -- instead, they perceive quantity differences up to the limits of their powers of perception. And instant comparisons are perceptual in nature. That should have been a tip-off for the astute mind.
Humans can perceive quantity, too (without "counting"). Our perceptual limit hovers around the ability to perceive 5-10 units of something at the same time. If I put marks on the computer screen, this becomes obvious. You can, for instance, "instantly tell" (read: without counting) how many marks there are when I type:
//
You can even "instantly tell" how many marks there are when I type:
///
And you can instantly tell that the group of 3 marks is larger than the group of 2 marks. Some folks can instantly tell how many marks there are when I type:
//// or /////
Less folks can instantly tell how many marks there are when I type:
/////// or //////
Did you "instantly" notice that I reversed the progression and put the group of more (7) marks before the group of less (6) marks? Due to differences in perceptual awareness (not in differences in "counting" abilities), presumably some animals and some autistic humans can instantly tell how many marks there are when I type:
/////////////////////// or when I type: ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////
So, do elephants -- as Leo says -- have "limited but nonetheless impressive mathematical ability"? No, they do not. Is the observation that one elephant can see that seven apples is greater than five 87 times out of a hundred -- and that another elephant can see it 69 times out of a hundred -- any kind of proof of counting? No.
Elephants, like other animals, merely have the perceptual power of quantity-discrimination -- which is not an ability to do math (though it can appear like it is to the estranged or disenfranchised minds of many professional researchers).
Ed
(Edited by Ed Thompson on 9/03, 9:37pm)
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